Giants’ injuries:
Will Smith could face Tommy John surgery. Michael Morse has a hamstring strain.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A baseball season, even in spring training, leaves no time to mourn injuries.
Reliever Will Smith could be destined for Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow, and Michael Morse might have lost his chance to make the team out of spring training because of a hamstring injury.
Management took a few moments to absorb the news, then continued the daily business of evaluating players on the field, forced to view the potential 25-man roster from a new angle.
Smith’s injury is the bigger blow. The left-handed setup man was diagnosed with a sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament and a strained elbow muscle. He flew to San Francisco on Tuesday to meet with team orthopedist Dr. Ken Akizuki.
The typical result of this injury is the Tommy John operation, which would cost Smith the 2017 season and perhaps some of 2018. If the injury is not that severe, Smith could try rest and rehabilitation.
“The player has to make the call,” said manager Bruce Bochy, who already has replacements in mind. He said left-handers Steven Okert, Josh Osich, nonroster invitee Michael Roth and even Ty Blach could pick up Smith’s innings and role.
Blach was to fight Matt Cain for the fifth rotation spot, but the lefty could be more valuable in the bullpen. Bochy had him relieve Madison Bumgarner in Tuesday’s 5-3 victory over the Padres. Blach pitched three innings and allowed one run.
Far from sounding forlorn at the thought of relieving, Blach flashed an I’ll-do-whatever-they-want smile and expressed confidence that he could succeed out of the bullpen, as he did at the end of 2016 in the regular season and playoffs.
Okert has had the best spring among the lefty relievers. He has not allowed a run in his seven innings.
The Giants acquired Smith in an Aug. 1 trade with the Brewers. He was a key contributor down the stretch last year and ended the regular season with a 18 straight shutout appearances.
He was primed to assume a larger role in 2017 but missed the first three weeks of Cactus League games with what was described as elbow inflammation. He was making his second appearance Monday, against the White Sox, when he reinjured the elbow and had his second MRI exam, which confirmed the UCL damage.
Morse strained his left hamstring a few innings earlier while running out a flyball. On Tuesday, Morse walked through the clubhouse with the hamstring wrapped. He walked without a limp and sounded upset about a report that this injury had cost him a chance to make the team.
“I’m good,” Morse said. “I’m not good-good. I’m lower-case good.”
But Bochy said Morse will be out at least two weeks, and the season opener is a week from Sunday.
“If it was bad, I would have packed up and gone home,” Morse said. “If this happened earlier in camp, it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but it’s crunch time.”
Morse also faces a decision. On the first day of camp, he said if he did not make the team, he would retire and go home to Florida. Now there is a third option: rehabbing his injury and going to Triple-A Sacramento to get at-bats. He was not ready Tuesday to commit to that.
Bochy said he hopes it happens.
“He was playing really good ball, seeing the ball well, doing what he needed to do to make the club,” Bochy said. “It’s not just the way he swung the bat. He was playing a good first base. We put him in the outfield. He was moving around good. He was in good shape. That should show him he’s got some baseball left — good baseball.”
Morse believes that and liked the way he has played.
“It just sucks I had to get hurt,” he said. “I always thought I wasn’t done. I always thought I could still play. I’ve just been dealt some bad cards the last couple of years. I proved to myself I can still play.”
Morse’s good friend Hunter Pence also wants to see Morse get healthy, saying, “He’d be a big help with the bat and in the clubhouse. I hope I get a chance to play with him.”
The left-field reserve options are slim. Mac Williamson is out of consideration for Opening Day because of a quadriceps injury, and Justin Ruggiano has played terribly in all facets.
Nonroster invite Chris Marrero picked a good day to hit his sixth homer of the spring. The 28-year-old former Washington National has played his way into contention for a job.
The Giants also could go with a utility player such as Aaron Hill, a career-long infielder who looked like a natural when Bochy stuck him in left field Monday.