Duquette on Harvey and trade market

Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette indicated today that he still hopes to add a starting pitcher before the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline. However, he also noted how it's a thin market that increases the challenge of upgrading the rotation.

Duquette's focus remains on the rotation ahead of the bullpen and outfield despite injuries to Hyun Soo Kim and Joey Rickard. The latter appears to be headed to the disabled list.

Dariel Alvarez would be recalled to take Rickard's spot on the 25-man roster.

In addition, Duquette estimated that Hunter Harvey could resume pitching in 12-18 months following Tuesday's ligament-reconstructive surgery on the former first-round pick's right elbow.

Here's a sampling from Duquette, who met with the media in front of the Orioles' dugout during batting practice in the sweltering heat at Camden Yards:

On why Harvey is headed for surgery:
"With the elbow, we always try a number of different options before we get to surgery. We knew that Hunter Harvey had a couple of setbacks with his elbow, but based on the information and his willingness, we were going to try to pitch and see if he could pitch effectively. There are several pitchers in the big leagues who can pitch effectively with the type of injury that Hunter had. Some of the younger pitchers, if they're not as physically mature as some of the big leaguers, then you have to go the surgical option.

"In Hunter's case, we tried a couple of different options and ultimately here we are. He's decided to have the UCL ligament transplant and he's going to have it by Dr. D'Alessandro in Charlotte, N.C. Given that we waited, we lost some time. On the other hand, Hunter Harvey is 21 years old. He'll have the opportunity to rehab and restart his career in probably 12-18 months from now."

On whether this further illustrates risk of drafting high school pitchers:
"There's a lot of stresses put on the elbow for any of these pitchers. A lot of these kid pitchers - I'm talking about youth pitchers - are having this surgery before they even get into professional baseball. There's no question that the risk associated with developing younger pitchers, that risk profile is greater or there's more risk associated with high school pitchers. And we've seen it recently with Dylan Bundy and Hunter Harvey. So, I think that's something the clubs, and our club in particular, (have) to take into consideration when we look at producing pitchers for the major league team."

On whether Harvey's timetable is complicated by other injuries:
"We found out that we had to do the surgical route, and as I said, we could have found that out sooner or we could have decided together. Ultimately it's Hunter's decision. Given his age, he should be able to resume his career."

On how it's nice to see Bundy starting tonight:
"It's nice to see him get his first start. We drafted him as a starter, he's trained to be a top starter and hopefully he'll have a good result. I thought he threw the ball pretty good in Tampa. He was throwing the ball hard and he gave up a couple opposite-field home runs, but he was throwing hard. I think if he uses his secondary pitches, he's got a great fastball and he should do real well."

On the rotation status heading to non-waiver deadline:
"We're going to try to add to our rotation. We need some more consistency from the guys we have here and we're going to try to add to it by the trade route."

On the talks:
"This is a really thin market. There are a lot of teams chasing a few pitchers. It's about as thin as I've ever seen the market, but we're going to see what we can do."

On whether he'll address the bullpen:
"Darren O'Day's doing a rehab tonight and having him come back will give us a shot in the arm. We have a strong bullpen. We have Brad Brach and (Zach) Britton. They're among the best in the league. So, those guys are great. (Mychal) Givens is doing good work and I'm impressed by what Donnie Hart's done since he's come up. Our bullpen is not really the issue. It's the consistency of our starting pitching and hopefully we can address that."

On whether the cost of making trades is higher due to past deals done:
"I'm not sure, I'm not sure about that. I'm not sure how that's going to play out. There just aren't enough good pitchers to go around."

On whether Orioles need another outfielder:
"We can take a look at that, but our real need is on the mound."

The Indians scratched Lonnie Chisenhall from their lineup due to an illness. Here's the new lineup:

Carlos Santana DH
Jason Kipnis 2B
Francisco Lindor SS
Mike Napoli 1B
Jose Ramirez LF
Tyler Naquin CF
Juan Uribe 3B
Abraham Almonte RF
Chris Gimenez C

Trevor Bauer P