Dan Duquette expects the countdown to the non-waiver trade deadline could and should be active throughout baseball this month.

"Our team is in contention and there are a lot of teams in contention, so there is going to be a robust trade market," said Duquette, the lead decision-maker for the Baltimore Orioles. "But it is going to be a seller's market because there are so many teams in the hunt."

Baltimore is .500 at the break, but the American League East has been competitive and Duquette doesn't anticipate selling off his pending free agents.

"Our pending free agents, the most value they could have would be to this year's ballclub and their contribution to this year's team. So any pending free agents, we'd like to see them play their best for the Orioles and help us accomplish our goals. That has been our focus all year," he said.