Cueto update

Manager Bruce Bochy says there’s a ‘strong possibility’ that Johnny Cueto needs Tommy John surgery.

SAN DIEGO — The odds were against Johnny Cueto as soon as he decided in May to rehabilitate the sprained ulnar-collateral ligament in his elbow. So many pitchers who go that route find after months of work they need Tommy John surgery anyway.

That appears to be Cueto’s sad reality.

“There has not been anything determined yet, but it’s fair to say there’s a strong possibility of having surgery,” manager Bruce Bochy said Monday before the Giants played the Padres at Petco Park.

The final call has not been made, but that seems to be the only route left for the 32-yearold right-hander, who returned from two months on the disabled list and made four uneasy starts that yielded 16 runs in 21 innings.

After Saturday’s four-inning start against the Brewers, Cueto confessed he was fooling everybody, including himself, by saying his arm was fine.

If Cueto does have the surgery, he will miss the rest of 2018 and possibly all of 2019. The newer thinking among doctors and athletic trainers is that 12 months, the traditional Tommy John prognosis, is not enough time. Reliever Will Smith needed 13 months, and he is younger than Cueto and did not have to build his pitch count toward 100.

By season’s end, Cueto will be halfway through his sixyear, $130 million contract. He and the club still can salvage two years if he has the surgery and returns with a stronger elbow, but he will be 34.

The Giants placed Cueto on the 10-day disabled list Monday. He remained in San Francisco as the team headed south. Bochy said the club had not decided whether Cueto again will fly to Florida to visit Dr. James Andrews, who examined him in early May.

Andrews’ recommendation that Cueto try the rehab was a surprise. He and the club were resigned to surgery.

“I guess you could say that it lingered for a quite a while,” Bochy said. “He battled through elbow issues. They looked at it, and it was not going away. If that’s the case, that he has surgery, I’m sure Johnny will be glad to get it behind him.”

Bochy said Chris Stratton would replace Cueto in the rotation, but did not know when. Wednesday’s off day would allow the Giants to skip Cueto’s turn Friday night in Arizona. Panik back: The Giants also placed Pablo Sandoval on the 10-day DL with a right-hamstring strain. They recalled Kelby Tomlinson for his fifth stint with the club this season and activated Joe Panik, who missed three weeks with a groin strain. Panik got two at-bats for Triple-A Sacramento on Monday afternoon before flying to San Diego to rejoin the Giants.