Orioles fans agonizingly waited all day for news of Manny Machado’s condition, roughly 24 hours after the young superstar suffered what appeared to be a horrific knee injury in the series finale in Tampa.
We received word that his MRI was scheduled for 1 PM, but that no news was expected until later in the afternoon. As Buck Showalter’s 4 PM press conference approached, we scanned the Twitterverse for any potential leaks of the results of Machado’s tests, but none came.
It was quite the excruciating afternoon in Birdland. O’s beat reporters tweeted out the lineups for tonight’s O’s/Blue Jays matchup (oh, there’s a game today? Somehow I had forgotten…), and then updates on Alexi Casilla (concussion symptoms, will have to pass MLB’s concussion protocol tests before returning), but nothing on Manny.
(I don’t mean to sound callous to Casilla’s plight – he made what should have been a potential game-saving catch in the bottom of the same inning in which Manny was injured, only to drop the ball when he collided with Nick Markakis at the end of his dive. Kudos to him for his effort, and we of course wish him a full and speedy recovery as well – but let’s be honest here: we’re all waiting to hear the condition of the future face of the franchise.)
At around 4:05, Bleacher Report’s Will Carroll (@injuryexpert) tweeted the following:
A “sprain?” That’s promising, right?
However, as Carroll points out, a “sprain” really is a “tear.” Now it just depends on the grade of the tear.
Let’s start with the simplest definition. A sprain is a tear. Period. Point blank. End of story.
A sprain is a tear.
The biggest issue is that most people use the term “tear” improperly, rather than “rupture.” A rupture is a complete tear; a loss of structural integrity that is undoubtedly going to force a surgical fix.
The full definition of a sprain is a tearing or stretching of the fibers that make up a ligament. Anything from rolling your ankle to rupturing an ACL likely involves some level of sprain. Do either of those and you’ve torn ligaments.
Of course, it’s a bit more complex than that since there are different levels of severity.
For that, sports medicine has gone to a system of gradations. Sprains come in three grades, usually designated with roman numerals and going up in severity.
So what’s the severity? And what about the ACL?
UGHHH, JUST RIP THE BAND-AID OFF BUCK! TELL ME WHAT’S WRONG WITH HIM!!!
Roch Kubatko of MASN tweeted this at about 4:10:
Finally, at around 4:15, Buck finally sat down with reporters. Unfortunately, all he really said was that the team was waiting for Dr. Wilckens to read Manny’s MRI. He hemmed and hawed a bit – you could tell that he maybe wanted to divulge more information, but was erring on the side of “let the medical professionals do the talking.”
Buck did say that, “I feel very confident that Manny will be playing for us early next season.” That opinion seemed to be based on the diagnosis of the radiologic technician, as the O’s were still “officially” waiting for Dr. Wilckens’ assessment.
Perhaps a glimmer of light for O’s fans?
However, no definitive news will come until post-batting practice.
The wait continues…
[Update: 5:23 PM]
Dr. Wilckens, due to having other patients to see, will now not be able to get to Manny’s results until some time during tonight’s game, per Roch.
[Update: 6:20 PM]
Dan Duquette said at a press conference that Manny suffered a torn medial patellofemoral ligament (I believe a dislocated knee cap). He’ll get a second opinion, but the team believes no surgery will be necessary.
Per Richie Bancells, Manny’s ACL and MCL are fine, and Manny should be able to return to baseball activities in 6-8 weeks. Bancells also said that he was “very relieved.”
Relief!
