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Giants' Smith to undergo Tommy John surgery

Darin Wallentine / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The San Francisco Giants now have to fill a massive hole in their bullpen.

Left-hander Will Smith, who was expected to be the Giants' set-up man this year, announced Friday that he's chosen to undergo Tommy John surgery to repair his ulnar collateral ligament and will miss the entire 2017 campaign.

Smith will undergo the surgery next week in Los Angeles, reports Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News.

Smith had been dealing with elbow soreness for much of the spring, and an MRI earlier this week confirmed he'd sustained some damage to his UCL, prompting him to seek a second opinion. After consulting with doctors, he decided that going for surgery over other rehab alternatives would be the best course of action to ensure he'd be back for the start of 2018.

"That was the deciding factor," Smith told Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area. "Baseball is what I love to do. As soon as they said I could miss two years, that decided it for me. I can't miss two years. That's too big a roll of the dice."

The 27-year-old Smith was acquired by San Francisco from the Milwaukee Brewers at last year's trade deadline for a package that included top pitching prospect Phil Bickford. Smith helped stabilize San Francisco's bullpen - a major weak spot for the team last season - down the stretch and into the playoffs, posting a 2.95 ERA while averaging over 12 strikeouts per nine innings. He didn't allow an earned run over his final 18 innings of the regular season and two playoff appearances.

Smith owns a career 3.88 ERA, 1.344 WHIP, and 327 strikeouts to 113 walks over 242 appearances with the Giants, Brewers, and Kansas City Royals. He has two years of arbitration left before free agency.

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