Here's a prediction that Machado-Schoop will be a stellar double play combo

With the announcement that Manny Machado will play shortstop this season, did the Orioles create one of baseball's best double play combinations for the 2018 season?

According to this story on MLB.com, they did. Reporter Anthony Castrovince, using stat projections for offense and defense for the coming season, ranked the best DP combos in the sport.

Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve of the World Series-winning Houston Astros are No. 1, and Machado and Jonathan Schoop were ranked second. Castrovince ranks Cleveland's Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis No. 3, the Dodgers' Corey Seager and Logan Forsythe as No. 4 and the Nationals' Trea Turner and Daniel Murphy as No. 5.

He writes this of the O's duo: "This is an exciting, albeit likely temporary, arrangement up the middle in Baltimore. There is risk associated with Machado's move, for both player and team. The physical wear and tear of the assimilation to the position could possibly lead to a decline in offensive production, which would hurt Machado's trade and free-agent value.

"But for now, I'm giving Machado the benefit of the doubt in these rankings. His Steamer projection has, as of this writing, not been updated to account for the move to short, but there was nothing in his 45-game sample at the position in 2016, while filling in for an injured Hardy, to indicate he can't continue to provide elite defense and production.

"And while Schoop isn't a household name like Machado, he has a rising profile, having earned some down-ballot AL MVP Award support after a 2017 season in which he made serious strides in selectivity (his OBP jumped 40 points, to .338) while crossing the 30-homer threshold for the first time."

Will Machado-Schoop be one of the best double play combos in the major leagues this year, as the story projects? Surely, that potential is there. When they played together in the minors, it looked pretty special on many nights. Like during the 2011 season, and particularly in September of that year, when Single-A Frederick won a Carolina League championship with Machado at short and Schoop at second leading the way.

Yes, I know that was many years ago and in the Carolina League, not the American League. I also know when you look that special on the farm, you might have a chance to do some nice things in the majors. We know this pair can hit.

As fan frustration builds over the rotation, it seems almost anything the Orioles do meets with some angst these days. So Machado's move to short has played to some mixed reviews. Here on this blog, at least. So we'll see.

Earlier this week, I wrote here about Machado moving back to short, the position he was drafted to play and played all through the minors until he was called up and moved to third base. Now he goes back to short and there are pros and cons with that move. We looked at several angles of the move in this piece on Tuesday.

Trip down memory lane: Speaking of that Frederick championship with Machado and Schoop several years ago, here is a quick look back. The day after Frederick won that championship in September 2011, then second-year O's skipper Buck Showalter talked about the Machado-Schoop duo.

"A couple of guys were talking about how both those kids seemed to take it to another level when the playoffs started," Showalter said that day. "They really kicked in the competitive juices and that's great to hear. Wasn't Machado MVP of the series?"

Yep, he was.

Here is a story I wrote in mid-September 2011 with a prediction that Schoop was going to be named the Orioles minor league Player of the Year, which was an award he would indeed get. He was a fun-loving 19-year-old who always had a smile on his face and, as we know, still plays the game with a lot of joy.

I wrote about how Schoop and Machado "have formed one of the best young double play combinations in all of minor league baseball this year."

"It's all about fun, me and Manny," Schoop said with a big smile. "We play the game the right way. We play hard, but in the end, we have some fun, too."