Orioles dealt devastating blow with injury to All-Star Jordan Westburg

Coming out of the trade deadline on Wednesday morning, Orioles fans were feeling good about the weeks to come. Mike Elias was able to shore up both the rotation and the bullpen via the trade market over the weekend, and he added a couple necessary bench pieces as well.

The O's also had just recalled superstar prospect Jackson Holliday from Triple-A Norfolk. Though he struggled in his MLB debut earlier this year, Holliday has as much hype as anyone else in the minor leagues.

On cue, Holliday delivered in his first game back, firing a moon shot of a grand slam over the right field wall and onto Eutaw Street for his first major league home run.

However, those good vibes were subdued by the end of Wednesday's matinee with the Blue Jays. One batter before Holliday's grand slam, third baseman Jordan Westburg was drilled on the hands by a Yerry Rodriguez fastball.

Westburg wasn't immediately pulled off the basepaths but he didn't come back out for the 6th inning, getting replaced at third base by Ramon Urias.

Jordan Westburg injury could spell disaster for the Orioles

After the game, manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that Westburg had suffered a broken right hand and as of now, the news from the team is that there isn't currently a timetable for Westburg's return.

The immediate reaction from many on Twitter was to suggest that Westburg will likely miss the majority of August and September, with an optimistic outlook having him back in Baltimore just before the end of the year. That timeline is assuming he doesn't need surgery or suffer any setbacks in his recovery.

It's admittedly a massive blow to an Orioles squad fighting for first place in the AL East. Entering Thursday, they're just 0.5 games up on the Yankees in the division but it'll be a challenge to stay on pace for close to 100 wins without one of their best hitters.

It's a bit surprising, but Westburg has genuinely been one of the most impactful players on this roster so far. He's hit .271/.317/.500 with 18 homers and 6 steals while providing strong defense between second and third. He's been good for 3.0 fWAR, second most on the team behind only Gunnar Henderson.

Entering the year, the Orioles had the luxury of a fallback plan when Holliday failed to launch. With both Westburg and Jorge Mateo now out for an extended period, Holliday becomes a guy that needs to hit in order to help keep the offense afloat.

Right now, infielder Coby Mayo is still crushing in Triple-A but isn't on the Orioles' 40-man roster. O's fans will have to wait a bit longer to see Mayo in Baltimore as it was announced late Wednesday that the recently acquired Livan Soto will step in and take Westburg's place on the active roster for the time being.

Despite all that's gone right for the Orioles recently, this injury to Westburg has the potential to derail the offense in a bad way. The O's need to find the right fix, and quickly, if they want to keep pace with New York in the division and earn their second straight AL East title.