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Machado to Start Rehab Stint Friday in Frederick

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Manny Machado is set to start his rehab assignment in Frederick this Friday, CSN Baltimore’s Rich Dubroff reports. Dubroff goes on to explain that Machado will spend the weekend with the Keys, but that his next stop after that is as yet undecided.

Manny has spent the last couple days playing extended Spring Training games in Sarasota (the photo above, c/o Craig Landefeld, is from Tuesday’s game). Once he begins his official rehab stint this Friday, he is allowed to take up to 20 days playing in the minors.

Hopefully, he won’t need that long. Even more importantly though, hopefully there are no setbacks.

This team really, really misses Manny Machado. J.J. Hardy’s absences with a variety of nagging injuries only serve to exacerbate things, both offensively and defensively. With the way the Birds are pitching, along with the team-wide power outage, it seems that every game is a nail-biter in the late innings, and every little mistake is magnified.

Perhaps it’s more perception than reality, but it sure seems that most of said mistakes occur on the left side of the infield.

It would be unrealistic (and unfair) to expect Machado’s return to spark the club as his original addition to the MLB team did back in 2012. If you remember, after starting out 27-14 that year, the Birds floundered a bit through May, June, and July, falling as far as two games over .500 at 46-44 on July 17. When Machado made his MLB debut on August 9, the team was 60-51. They finished the year 93-69, meaning they were 33-18 with Manny, a .647 winning percentage.

Still, while such a jolt might be a pipe dream, lightning-striking-twice scenario, it’s absolutely appropriate to think that this .500-ish version of the O’s we’ve seen so far in 2013 will markedly improve once #13 is back on the hot corner and slotted into his second spot in the lineup. If J.J. Hardy can put his early season injuries behind him and those two set up shop on the left side of the diamond for the remainder of the season, it seems safe to expect the Birds’ fortunes to take a sharp turn for the better.

In addition, fans really, really miss Manny Machado. Machado has us completely spoiled at this point. We expect rookie Jonathan Schoop, who isn’t even playing his usual position when he fills in at third, to make plays that Manny would make. Plays that pretty much no other third baseman in baseball BUT Manny would make. It’s not fair to Schoop, and it’s not fair to our circulatory systems.

Of course, Schoop isn’t without fault – his errors have cost the O’s in some crucial spots. But he’s also not Manny, and as much as we try to avoid making the comparison (because we know it’s not fair), we’ve all thought “Manny would’ve made that play” on at least a dozen occasions this season.

While we’d all like to see some consistency from this team, and to see them start climbing the standings, it’s probably safe to say that neither will happen until Manny comes back.

That day is getting closer and closer. Just keep hanging around .500, Birds. Help is on the way.

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