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Giants' Smith has UCL damage, no timetable for return

Darin Wallentine / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The San Francisco Giants' bullpen is facing a potentially massive hole just weeks ahead of Opening Day.

Left-hander Will Smith received bad news Tuesday after his second MRI of the spring showed damage to the reliever's ulnar collateral ligament that weren't seen in his initial test. There's no timetable for his return, but it's likely Smith will miss significant time; it's not clear, however, if he'll need Tommy John surgery.

The 27-year-old, who was expected to serve as the Giants' set-up man, has returned to San Francisco to meet with the team's doctor.

Smith had missed three weeks of spring training thanks to elbow soreness, left Monday's exhibition contest after feeling more elbow discomfort, prompting the second test. That follow-up showed structural damage that raised alarm bells in the Giants' front office, general manager Bobby Evans told reporters, per Andrew Baggarly of Bay Area News Group.

"That's what concerns us," Evans said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle's Henry Schulman. "There are things on (this) MRI that didn't necessarily show up on last MRI."

Smith was acquired by San Francisco from the Milwaukee Brewers at last year's trade deadline for a package that included highly regarded pitching prospect Phil Bickford. He performed well down the stretch for his new club to help push San Francisco to the playoffs, and didn't allow a run in two postseason appearances.

The Giants had been counting on Smith to once again stabilize a bullpen that struggled down the stretch in 2016.

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