Updates from Tuesday, Aug. 12

The results of Manny Machado‘s MRI are in, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com:

GM Dan Duquette briefly commented on how long Machado could potentially be out via Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun:

Original Text

This is a sentence you never want to read about any player, especially if it has already been uttered in the past year: Manny Machado left Monday’s game with a scary-looking knee injury. 

The 22-year-old star third baseman, who tore his left medial patellofemoral ligament at the end of last season and missed all of April while rehabbing, injured his other knee against the New York Yankees. YES Network’s Jack Curry and MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko have the concerning details:

The team’s official Twitter feed provided an update, however, alleviating at least a little bit of the concern:

After the O’s 11-3 win over the Yankees, Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com provided an update on what’s next for Machado:

While a particular timetable is still unknown, this kind of thing is low on the list of what Orioles fans want to hear. 

Machado got off to a slow start this season and had a forgettable series against the Oakland Athletics in June that showed his youth, but he had been red hot as of late, hitting .348/.383/.536 since the start of July. Overall, his season numbers (.277/.323/.428) are right on line with his All-Star campaign from last year.

ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield recently argued Machado would help the O’s win the American League East:

Maybe it’s just a little hot streak. Maybe you’re finally getting in a groove, with the knee healthy. Maybe we’re going to see the Manny Machado we saw the first half of last season, when you were hitting all those doubles, making all those fantastic plays in the field and making the All-Star team in your first full season in the majors. 

At the All-Star break, I predicted the Orioles to hold on and win the East, in part because I figured Chris Davis was due to heat up. But it’s not looking like Davis is the guy who will help carry the lineup alongside Nelson Cruz and Adam Jones. It’s you, Manny. 

You can’t forget about his unbelievable defense, either, as he displays unbelievable range at third base to go with one of the strongest arms in the game.

Ahem:

“Machado is a magician out there,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia told reporters after that game. “(He) took a couple of hits away from (Albert Pujols).”

Baltimore will be hoping for some more of that magic during his recovery. 

The O’s are in a comfortable position—they entered Monday five games clear of the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East. But there’s no overstating the significance of this development if Tuesday’s reevaluation reveals a prognosis that is as bad as the injury looked. 

Chris Davis, who was receiving a day off at first, entered the game for Machado. Steve Pearce and Ryan Flaherty will see more time during the youngster’s absence. 

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