Orioles' Jonathan Schoop has grade 1 PCL tear, headed to disabled list

The fallout from the Orioles' Friday loss to the Red Sox will not be limited to just the one loss. They will now also be without Jonathan Schoop for an extended period of time this season as an MRI revealed that he suffered both a grade 1 tear of his right PCL as well as a sprain of his right MCL.

It's fair to guess this probably occurred either from Schoop being on the receiving end of a hard slide from Pablo Sandoval, who was a moving object of significant mass, or when Schoop later inadvertently tripped over the foot of Mike Napoli as he tried to stretch to beat out an infield grounder. Perhaps they both contributed. The Orioles seem to think it was the stumble at first base that did it, which does make sense in that Schoop didn't seem to show any sign of an injury after Sandoval crashed into him.

There is not yet a timetable for Schoop's return, though the team did say he will not be getting surgery. It could have been worse; it seems the team feared an ACL tear and that was not the case. However, when asked about the time Schoop might return, Orioles manager Buck Showalter only said that he feels confident that Schoop will be back this season.

Being as it is presently April, that's quite a lot of wiggle room, and quite a lot of time that the Orioles will be without the cannon-armed double play generator. At least until J.J. Hardy returns, it's likely we'll be seeing a lot of Ryan Flaherty.

The injury to Schoop does mean that the O's have found a way to get Jimmy Paredes back with the team. They didn't even need to stretch his rehab out to a full 20 days. Paredes is not going to be playing any middle infield, but he can at least be a right-handed bat to play somewhere.