The Orioles didn't need this. They didn't exactly start the season with strong overall position depth after losing Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis to free agency, and the knee injury that has sidelined Jonathan Schoop indefinitely leaves them without much margin for any further personnel losses.
Club officials are holding out hope that the partial PCL tear and MCL strain will not keep Schoop out for the entire season, but you know how those things go. It's standard procedure to start out with the most positive possible prognosis and work backward from there.
The circumstances of the injury, though not the injury itself, are very similar to the first time Manny Machado got hurt. Schoop injured his knee hitting first base awkwardly just like Machado, who needed seven months to return to the Orioles lineup.
Hopefully, Schoop can avoid knee surgery, but the fact that Buck Showalter was coy about the worst-case scenario on Saturday has to make you wonder.
What isn't in doubt is how good Dan Duquette looks for signing former All-Star infielder Everth Cabrera in February. The Orioles are now playing without three-quarters of their projected up-the-middle defense, but Cabrera can play either middle infield position and has looked very good with the glove so far.
Suddenly, that roster logjam is looking less like a problem and more like a solution, and it certainly helped that Jimmy Paredes was ready to show up in Boston on Saturday and make an offensive contribution. But everyone will feel a lot better when J.J. Hardy gets back.