Hyde on LeBlanc, rotation, Severino, Iglesias, Harvey, more

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde hasn't decided how he's going to replace left-hander Wade LeBlanc in the rotation.

He knows the candidates are Thomas Eshelman, Keegan Akin and Jorge López. They're headed to the bullpen until one of them is needed to start against the Blue Jays in Buffalo.

"We're going to make that decision here probably later this week," Hyde said today in his Zoom conference call. "We have some guys who are built up for that. We'll see how it goes later in the week."

LeBlanc is on the 60-day injured list with a left elbow stress reaction. He left Sunday's start after two-thirds of an inning and 14 pitches.

"You just never know when a guy comes off the mound like that," Hyde said. "I was hoping for good news and it just sounds like he's got that stress reaction in his left elbow. It was unfortunate to hear that yesterday and we're hoping that he recovers well, which we think he will."

LeBlanc's season is over and he can become a free agent again after signing a minor league deal with the Orioles in February.

"I don't know what kind of treatment you do for a stress reaction," Hyde said. "From what it sounds like to me, not being a doctor, is that it's bone, which is a positive. It's not muscular or ligament. It's a stress reaction to the bone, so that just takes a little bit of time to heal.

"It sounds like from our medical guys that he's going to recover fine and I'm sure that Wade wants to continue to play next year, so I wouldn't consider it a career-ending injury of any sort. Just running out of time this season."

Catcher Pedro Severino left Sunday's game early with tightness in his right hip and he's out of tonight's lineup, but he avoided the injured list.

"Sevie's day-to-day right now, so we got good news on Sevie that he felt a lot better yesterday, feels even better today," Hyde said. "The hip's just a little bit sore, tight. I think hopefully he'll be in there the next day or two."
 
The Orioles are carrying a four-man taxi squad: catcher Austin Wynns and pitchers David Hess, Evan Phillips and César Valdez.

Shortstop José Iglesias (quad) and reliever Hunter Harvey (forearm) joined the team while on the injured list. Iglesias is eligible to return on Wednesday, but he may not be ready.

"Probably not tomorrow, but he's still doing his rehab right now," Hyde said. "We're hoping to activate him hopefully sometime during this trip."

Harvey has been facing hitters at the alternate camp site in Bowie.

"He's still progressing in his rehab," Hyde said, "and we're hoping like we've been saying all along, hopefully by the end of this month. The date on that isn't clear yet, but he's going to continue to throw and continue his rehab assignment here with us."

Hyde said there's no timetable on Austin Hays, who's on the injured list with a non-displaced rib fracture.

"He's just still rehabbing the rib injury," Hyde said.