Duquette: "I still have hope for this year's club"

Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette painted the Orioles today during at Q&A session with season ticket holders as a team that's trying to improve its starting pitching and make a playoff run in 2017.

Duquette, sitting on top of the visiting dugout with manager Buck Showalter during the annual "State of the Orioles," seemed to challenge reports that the Orioles are in sell mode. He wasn't going to make a concession speech this afternoon.

It felt more like a rally.

"I still have hope for this year's club," Duquette said. "I've got a lot of confidence in the guys that we have that we can put it together. This is a tough division. Day in and day out we have to compete against the toughest teams in the league and invariably we do a good job. This year we haven't had the starting pitching that we need, but the other elements of our ballclub are intact. And if we can get a little bit better stronger pitching and add to the pitching, we can still make a run at this.

"We're about four (4 1/2) games out of the wild card and that second wild card gives you a lot of hope until late in the season. And we're going to see what we can do this week to help our ballclub and strengthen the club so we can give you a contending team year in and year out."

Rival executives are putting together packages in an attempt to pry closer Zach Britton from the Orioles. Relievers Brad Brach and Darren O'Day also are considered available at the right price, but Duquette pulled fans in another direction today.

"Whatever we do, we're going to try to help the club," he said. "I still like a lot of our core players. I don't believe all this stuff that says we have half the club on the market, because we've got a lot of baseball left to be played."

The Orioles began today with a 5.93 ERA from the rotation that ranked last in the American League and was second-worst in the majors behind the Reds (6.12). Duquette mentioned how he's in the market for starters but also will sift through the minors for potential in-house upgrades.

"We're going to try to find starters wherever we can," he said, adding that the club has "a very strong bullpen."

Duquette noted the fierce competition in the industry for starting pitchers, raising the degree of difficulty in making improvements. He singled out the Rangers and Yankees, also successful teams over the years, as being in the same predicament.

"The fact of the matter is there aren't enough really good starters to go around the league, so when you have them, you've got to maximize that, and when you don't, you better start looking for more," he said.

Duquette also said the Orioles discussed an extension for All-Star second baseman Jonathan Schoop during the winter and suggested that they could revisit the topic.

"That's something that we would certainly consider," he said.

The Orioles have been getting calls on Double-A Bowie left-hander Tanner Scott. Duquette said a team contacted him yesterday about Single-A Delmarva left-hander Alex Wells.

Meanwhile, the Orioles reinstated pitcher Mike Wright from the 10-day disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk.

Wright threw two scoreless innings today with the Gulf Coast League team, allowing two hits and striking out three batters.

Showalter isn't certain whether Wright will start or be used as a reliever with Norfolk.