AUGUST 27: Machado’s surgery was successful, and the likeliest scenario remains that he will be at full strength for the start of Spring Training, according to a tweet from Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com.
AUGUST 22: Orioles third baseman Manny Machado is likely out for the rest of the season, Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports tweets. He will have knee surgery at some point within the next week. The Orioles announced last week that Machado had a right knee ligament sprain and had previously been hopeful that he would be able to return as soon as next Wednesday. He has been out since August 11, when he twisted his knee while swinging.
Machado’s absence will be tough for the Orioles, who currently are 73-53 and atop the AL East. Machado has hit .278/.324/.431 this season, and as usual has contributed plenty of value with his defense. He has, however, been limited to 82 games, having missed all of April with a separate knee injury. The Orioles could respond by moving Chris Davis to third base and having Steve Pearce play first, Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com suggests (via Twitter).
Long as that pitching stays healthy, 9 games should be enough of a lead. Something about the O’s, though, makes me think a long losing streak might still be in their future. Hope not.
O’s are done unless they try to make a deal for Beltre.
Pearce is having a better year offensively than Machado in just a marginally smaller sample size (provided they move Davis to third and stick Pearce in at first like the article mentioned).
The Orioles have played .573 ball (47-35) this year when Machado starts at 3B and .591 (26-18) when someone else starts there.
So you are saying Machado is a non factor?
I presented some stats/facts. Interpret them however you want.
Do you also expect Pearce to keep playing over his head?
He already bottomed out for a month and now he’s starting to hit again. Same goes for Cruz.
Well Cruz is a proven player, Pearce is having his first glimpse of any type of success in an 8 year career. Kind of how Chris Colabello started off hot this year and then fell off the face of the earth.
I’m not the one saying he’s better than Manny. I’m just telling you he experienced a cold streak and didn’t pumpkin out completely. If he maintains where he’s at now, he won’t be hitting that much over his head.
I’m just saying that with Machado gone and Pearce not hitting like he did in May and June, Cruz hasn’t been good since May, Davis has been awful. That puts a lot of pressure on the pitching staff. Machado was really carrying that offense since he returned. The numbers ba9oriole listed were primarily from when Cruz and Pearce were both hot therefore making up for the lack of Machado. Now they are all struggling.
Well Machado wasn’t even really good until June/July. He was a black hole for the first month or so.
Well yeah he needed some time to adjust after coming back but I think the O’s offense will be an issue without Machado. Just looking at the month by month breakdowns of their key offensive players is quite alarming.
This isn’t a team that’s built around one guy. It will always hurt losing a player like him, but..
It’s not as if Machado was the cleanup hitter having an MVP season. He was a 2 hitter, who was coming on, but the Os had already played 80 games without him pretty well.
I’m saying they were able to play without him being much of a factor because Pearce and Cruz were making up for it. Now both Cruz and Pearce are struggling and Machado is gone.
That’s a valid point. And it could certainly play out that way.
That said, I wouldn’t even say the Os have been riding hot streaks of Cruz and Pearce as much as you suggest. Don’t get me wrong. Cruz having an MVP-ish first half was a big deal. Absolutely. But, the Os have been able to withstand losing Wieters and now Machado, both huge parts of their team, because every player on the roster has had a turn at being really hot at one point or another. Cruz and Pearce are only the most obvious candidates from a quick glance at the team.
I think the real story of the Os this year is how much key production they’ve gotten from role players, from Caleb Joseph, Delmon Young (.400ish pinch hitting role to .300ish spot DH starts). Other team’s fans look at Schoop’s AVG and figure he’s a bit player, but a high percentage of his HRs and hits are game-winners. Like many good Showalter teams, this one is characterized by good bench and bullpen play, not just the big names.
Beltre cleared waivers.
I would love to have Beltre on the team.
Although, a lot of maneuvering needs to be done, that’s for sure.
Short-term meaning this season and Long-Term after this season, if that were to happen.
Not necessarily, if you manage to pry Beltre away from the Rangers, he covers Machado’s absence the rest of the year. Going forward, you can trade Beltre for different pieces in the offseason, or keep him. Wasn’t Machado’s natural position shortstop? He could slide over and replace JJ Hardy if he leaves through free agency
I personally prefer to keep Manny at 3B. But it’s an option.
I was just providing a scenario if Beltre were to join the team, with Beltre, what looks to be one of the top lineups in baseball this year, could be the comparable next year by essentially turning Hardy and Cruz into Beltre. IF they retain Cruz or add a similar power bat along with getting Weiters back, that lineup is downright scary
Beltre is probably the only 3B who could replace Machado in glove and bat, definitely.
Thatd be quite a left side of the infield on both offense and defense.
Do you watch the Os?
Almost every game.
And you believe they are done if they do not add Beltre?
It would be next to impossible to make a long playoff run without arguably your second best overall player. He has been on fire at the plate recently, and you can’t replace his glove. While Davis has been playing well there, his glove at first is very valuable. He is a better defender at first than Pearce. I also don’t think the lineup can take this hit. Players like Pearce and Young are extremely streaky. They play very well for a while, but if they’re in the lineup every day, it isn’t good. Hopefully we keep winning and can clinch the division with a week or so left in the regular season, so we can rest some players, especially Jones and Markakis, before the playoffs.
I accept your apology. Thank you so much.
I guess we are doing ok without Beltre and without Machado?
Against scrubs like Tampa, Minnesota, and Cincinnati. This isn’t playoff baseball yet.
Let’s forget about the second best record in baseball..
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Hello, it’s the Mets re: Daniel Murphy on line 1.
You can have Will Middlebrooks. For nothing. Just take him.
I’m not Dr. Oz, but can someone please explain to me why you need surgery to repair a ligament that isn’t even torn, partially torn, or anything, it’s just sprained?
It appears like Machado has a bone irregularity, which causes the knee to buckle awkwardly if it hits the wrong way. Both injuries seem to be unnatural events when the knee comes down in a particular way. I’ve seen kids have this before, who might have genetic differences in the bone surface that would usually prevent such things.
Is there strength programs someone like Machado can do to prevent knee injuries in the future? I’ve had some knee issues in the past that were helped by strengthening the muscles around my knee. Just wondering, obviously all knee injuries are not created equal
It really comes down to the specifics of Machado’s knee’s bone structure to say. I think there’s a chance he’ll never have to think about this again, but who knows?
One way to think of it is how we all know someone who just has an ability to flip their shoulders inside out, or contort their shoulder girdle in various flexible ways. This comes down to mechanical and genetic differences in their joints. Well, it looks like Machado has such differences in his knees. Each time the injuries happened, it resulted in similarly unnatural hyperextended knees. The vid replays are unbearable to watch for me. It comes down to what those mechanical differences are, and how the docs are fixing them. I think the type of knee injuries that tend to recur have more to do with soft tissue and ligament damage, stuff like “trick knees” aka MCLs and ACLs. I’m not sure this is that. I find the reporting here to be sorta mixed. It slumps all knee injuries into the same category.
yes there are. but it really depends on the severity of it, which is hard to know without examining him directly.
The Orioles didn’t “COULD respond” by moving Davis to 3B. THey already HAVE moved him there. He’s been playing there for a week or more now. Pretty solid actually, just not platinum glove level, of course.
If the Rangers would even consider trading Beltre to the O’s they would ask for the moon. They would want Bundy, Harvey, Walker, Bridwell and that’s just for starters.
This deal would never happen but, Belte is too old and expensive for all that.
No they wouldn’t lol
Haha I know. Teams shopping their young stud pitchers didn’t even ask for all those guys at once. They’d ask for just one.
The real bad news about Machado is that he’s starting to look like one of those players made of glass. A season ending injury just swinging at a ball?
I wouldn’t say that.
He has genetic irregularities in his knees that need to get fixed. Each of these injuries are to do with the knees and the same awkward hyperextension. Before he was promoted to the majors he actually had an injury there too, the exact same hyperextended knee thing, which benched him for a month. If there’s a pattern, I wouldn’t consider it brittle.
That said, if an Orioles player is made of glass, I’ll call them out on it. Those players get lots of injuries every few months and each time it’s a completely random injury. Nolan Reimold fits that. If Manny gets another injury next season in a totally new place, I’d call him glass though.
I think I’m the only one that thought of Steve Lombardozzi when this was announced…
Lombo doesn’t have the arm for 3rd base.
Or the bat