Smith hopes for April 2018 return

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — As the four beat reporters approached Will Smith on Friday, they did not have to ask the question.

“Yeah, Tommy John,” Smith said. “It’s not what I was hoping for.”

Smith will undergo the elbow-reconstruction surgery in Los Angeles next week and miss the 2017 season. He is hoping to be ready for April 2018, although the thinking in baseball has changed about the traditional 12-month comebacks from Tommy John surgery. More teams are extending that timetable.

The doctors threw all kinds of rehab alternatives at the left-hander, but his decision was easy because he knew he would also lose the 2018 season if conservative treatment did not work and in three months he needed Tommy John surgery anyway.

“Baseball is what I love to do,” he said. “As soon as they said I could miss two years, that did it for me. I can’t miss two years. That’s too risky of a dice to roll. Miss the one year and be ready to go.

“This just makes the most sense, to have it done now and be ready for ’18 full tilt, ready to go.” Shark and Buster: Jeff Samardzija was coming off two horrible starts (72⁄3 innings, 11 earned runs, 17 hits). In Friday’s 6-5 victory, he held Colorado to two singles in four shutout innings. One big difference was having Buster Posey behind the plate. In this case, familiarity bred success.

“The good thing about Buster is, he knows what he’s talking about and he doesn’t mind saying what he’s thinking,” Samardzija said. “We were down there warming up. He thought I was a little bit flat in my delivery. My arm was a little low. We made a quick adjustment in the first inning and then we got the results we were looking for.” Briefly: The Giants released reliever David Hernandez at his request. The nonroster pitcher was told he would not make the team . ... Manager

Bruce Bochy plans to use the final games to experiment with lineups. Friday’s had Hunter Pence, Posey and

Brandon Crawford in the 3-4-5 spots.