When Manny Machado injured his left knee on Monday, the injury appeared to be very serious, with many speculating he may have suffered significant ligament damage. Machado did suffer a torn medial patellar ligament, but did not tear his ACL or MCL, according to Mark Viviano of WJZ 13.
Manny Machado injury: Orioles 3B has torn knee ligament, expected ready for spring training
Manny Machado avoided the worst-case scenario and could be ready for the start of the 2014 season.
Al Messerschmidt
Machado is expected to miss between 6-8 weeks, but is expected to be ready for spring training, according to Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com. While he’ll still face a significant rehab process, the news is close to the best-case scenario considering how bad the injury looked when it happened.
“It’s the type of injury that you could treat it conservatively, and our plan would be to treat it conservatively and see how Manny recovers from that,” general manager Dan Duquette said in a televised press conference.
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The announcement came after Baltimore team physician Dr. John Wilckens reviewed the MRI results. Earlier on Tuesday, Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he was "very confident" Machado would be able to play early next season, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. That appears to be the case, assuming Machado doesn't suffer any setbacks. He didn't waste any time getting started on his rehab; he was unavailable to the media on Tuesday because he was getting treatment.
Machado suffered the injury during the seventh inning of Monday’s game when his left foot landed awkwardly on first base. He immediately went down the ground and appeared to be in serious pain. Trainers tended to him on the field for several minutes before taking him off on a stretcher after stabilizing his knee.
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