MARCH 30: Smith had his surgery this week, tweets Pavlovic. The initial read of the doctors is now that Smith can be back in the big leagues by next May, Pavlovic adds.
MARCH 24, 1:23pm: Smith will undergo Tommy John surgery next week, per Pavlovic. His doctors are optimistic that he’ll be healthy by the start of next season (Twitter links).
7:08am: Giants left-hander Will Smith will decide Friday whether to undergo Tommy John surgery on his ailing elbow, but it doesn’t appear he’ll avoid the procedure. Both doctors who examined the reliever’s elbow this week have recommended the surgery, manager Bruce Bochy announced Thursday (via Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area).
Smith’s elbow has been an issue since the outset of spring training in late February, when the Giants had to shut him down for a week on account of inflammation. The injury didn’t look serious at the time, but the discomfort returned Monday and is likely to yield surgery. If he does go under the knife, Smith will still accrue service time for the next year-plus that he misses. The 27-year-old is in his second of four arbitration-eligible seasons and will make $2.5MM in 2017.
This would have been the first full season in San Francisco for Smith, whom the Giants acquired from the Brewers at last year’s trade deadline. Playoff-bound San Francisco gave up right-hander Phil Bickford, who’s now suspended but was among Baseball America’s top 50 prospects prior to the deal, and catcher Andrew Susac in an effort to bolster its bullpen. Smith warranted that return thanks to his quality output in Kansas City and Milwaukee from 2013 through the first half of last season, and he also fared nicely in his first action with the Giants. Over an 18 1/3-inning span, he recorded a 2.95 ERA ball with 12.8 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9. All told, Smith logged a 3.13 ERA, 11.91 K/9, 3.58 BB/9 and a 42.6 percent ground-ball rate in 198 2/3 frames over the previous four years.
The loss of Smith will clearly be a significant one for the Giants, whose bullpen was a mediocre group last year that suffered no shortage of late-game meltdowns. Smith would have been San Francisco’s top lefty option in relief this season, but the bullpen will instead have to rely on Josh Osich, Steven Okert and perhaps fifth starter candidate Ty Blach as its primary southpaws.
Great trade I guess.
Yeah you got a pot head in return who is currently suspended. Winning!
Didn’t seem to bother Tim Lincecum, Alex Reyes, or undoubtedly countless successful others. The suspension is just because he’s in the minor leagues. Dumb, sure, but doesn’t mean he won’t be successful and make it a great trade for Milwaukee.
1. There were no known issues with Smith’s elbow when they traded for him. Injuries happen.
2. Bickford is a head case and is averaging a suspension per season, it seems. Susac was the #3 catcher, and seems to be the case on the Brewers as well.
I’m not sure why everyone it touting this trade as something awful. Smith was outstanding for the Giants down the stretch.
For 18 innnings. And now he’s gone for this entire season.
Susac has starting potential, he just needs to find a common ground with the injury bug that seems to keep biting him. The only reason the Giants were using Trevor Brown was because Susac was hurt. Plus Susac had no real starting opportunities behind an all star like Buster Posey.
Susac’s inability to stay healthy and his inability to hit RHP was/is a huge detractor. He was never going to start, so his lack of PAs was also of concern.
And considering what others gave up for relievers last season, I’d say giving up an oft-injured backup and a head case prospect is light.
At the time, the trade was more than fair. So it’s easy to look in hindsight and call it bad trade (still isn’t).
It’s really silly to evaluate a trade over a short, or even a 1 year, span of time. That’s what baseball neophytes do. Smith is under team control for 3 more years after this one. Trevor Brown was favored over Susac, because the Giants were not enamored of Susac’s work behind the plate. Brown was a better pitch caller and framer. Something else neophytes do is judge a catcher by what he does at the plate, when the really important stuff happens behind it..
In what world was smith outstanding down the stretch. He blew games like everyone else. The Giants farm system is not good and they traded a 1st round pick for a reliever that is having tommy john. How is that not an awful trade? I like how giants fans raved about bickford/beede and now all of a sudden when bickford is gone he is a head case
He was good for them. He has a 1.75ish fip and 3ish era. But it was only 18 innings (his hr/fb % was 0 there because he gave up 0 hrs)
lol Dodger fans just mad because SF has 4 pennants since the Dodgers’ last one.
You mean fans overhype their prospects all the time? Of course, Dodgers fans have NEVER done it.
A lot of folks complained when they traded Bickford. I didn’t. And in hindsight, I’m glad they did. The guy is a severe head case.
As a pitcher, it’s better to be a head case than an arm case. You enjoy Will Smith…perhaps as early as 2018.
In what world? The world of MLB. He had a rough transition/adaptation to a new team and struggled in his first 5 games. Not unusual. But over the last 21 games of the season he had a 1.10 ERA and a sub-1.000 WHIP. He also did not give up a single run over his last 18 games. Yeah 18 is a small sample, but not when you’re talking about a scoreless streak. Even with the bad 5 games after the trade, he still had a 142 ERA+ for the Giants. Oh, and that scoreless streak was extended over his 2 appearances in the postseason as well. So yes, Smith was outstanding down the stretch..
The Giants didn’t know Smith was an “arm case”. They KNEW Bickford was a head case.
In July 2016, it was a really smart trade.
How is he a headcase though? You keep saying it but the only thing I’ve ever heard was that he smoked pot which wouldn’t even matter if he was on Milwaukee right now
Your right. We sure hyped up seager , pederson and urias. They seem to be doing just fine. The only way the giants dont lose this trade is if bickford crashes and burns. If he is even slightly a serviceable pitcher giants loose the deal. It is not too early to judge a reliever with tommy john.
You’ve obviously never seen this list:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baseball_players_who…
“The only way the giants dont lose this trade is if bickford crashes and burns. If he is even slightly a serviceable pitcher giants loose the deal.”
If Will Smith was a free agent after this year, I’d agree. He’s coming back in 2018 and is under team control through 2019. The track record of guys coming back from TJ surgery is getting better and better, so I think it’ll be fine.
But the “Dodgerfan” part of your name was enough for me to recognize you’d be unreasonable in any discussion. Unless you wish to be reasonable, go over to Twitter or something.
So i cant have an opinion because i am a dodger fan? I think the matt moore trade was amzing for SF. I am very rational when it comes to the giants/dodgers. There are many moves the dodgers have made recently that i do not like. Will smith has 2 years left of control post tommy john and to think he will come back and contribute heavily is less alot less likley then bickford being a total bust. Giants would take back this trade in 1 second if they could.
OK Pirates, time to offer Tony Watson for Christian Arroyo.
Pirates could get a better return than Arroyo should Watson become available.
Kang might not play this year so they need some infielders
For a DUI? get out of here
Right now, it’s a visa issue. When he does get back, he will likely need some time in the minors to get back to game form, and after that he will potentially have a suspension to deal with. I don’t think he will miss the entire season by any means, but he will likely be out for a month, maybe two or longer.
Visa has been denied…he is a 3 time DUI offender.
Reports out of Korea is that he is likely done in the US for at least this season
Korea takes a more harder line with DUIs than we do here.
Send them Bastardo instead…or both?
Will smith for susac and Bickford from the trade deadline. Susac is the backup catcher and Bickford is missing the first 2 months of the season because of drugs. Hard to say who won this trade
no it isn’t. The giants got 18 innings out of smith and we’ll see what they get after the tjs, the brewres have 6 years years of their two
I think the Giants would rather see what happens with Smith than try and see what happens with Bickford and all of his issues.
Besides, guys like Keith Law & Eric Longenhagen both think we’ve seen the best of Bickford. I bet he’s a middle reliever struggling to find a job in a few years.
So trending down means they think we’ve seen the best of them? Man, Eric sure has a funny way of wording that thought…
Cool that you just ignore susac as well. Must be a giants fan.
Fine, I’ll fix it:
“I think the Giants would rather see what happens with Smith than try and see what happens with Bickford and all of his issues, as well as Susac and his injuries.”
Happy?
Yep, no way the Giants would trade Smith back for Susac and Bickford, even with the impending TJS.
And Susac is going to AAA for Milwaukee to start the year.
I guess he is moving in with his auntie and uncle in Bel Air
Lmao
Maybe the Giants will pick up up Josh Edgin if he doesn’t make the Mets roster?
I’m guessing they’ll just go with one of their current lefties at this point (Osich or Blach) and go on from there.
sadly it will most likely be blach & okert as the pen lefties which keeps Blach out of the 5th rotation spot – puts more pressure on cain to keep up and he hasn’t looked good. Maybe we can see blackburn (who has looked really good) or beede step up though if cain can’t hold it together.
If Cain crashes and burns, it will be Blach in the rotation. For lefties,. In addition to Okert they also have Osich. IIRC Reynolds is also still in camp.
No, the Giants are not desperate to pick up another team’s lefty castoff. They have internal options to try long before they’ll need to trade for someone.
Waiting for Matt Moore to get hurt smh
Between Smith and Zach Duke, this has not been a good year for left-handed relievers acquired at last season’s trade deadline.
Are the Giants going to go crying to MLB like the Marlins and Red Sox did last summer?
Why? Smith was healthy when he was acquired.
This hurts…..
Winner ? Loser ? Eh, it’s moot. The Giants badly needed a late inning reliever and the Brewers needed young pieces. Three years of a solid late inning reliever for a team that is in the middle of its contention window fills a need. Two young prospects for a team that’s rebuilding fills a need. Susac and Bickford were expendable pieces. Giants fans want to be apologists and everyone else wants to hate on this deal. It’s just a deal.
Exactly. I don’t know of anyone who predicted that he would need Tommy John surgery. Players get injured, that’s life and the team that wins is the team who has less injuries and the depth to handle the ones that do happen.