Johnny Cueto was sent to the disabled list for the third time this season on Monday afternoon, after complaining about lingering pain in his right elbow following his most recent start on Saturday.
Though there isn’t an official prognosis, it doesn’t look good for Cueto, who was evaluated by Dr. James Andrews in May to determine if the right-hander required Tommy John surgery. At the time, Andrews recommended that Cueto look to rehab the issue before going under the knife, but this recent setback may be an indicator that surgery is the next step.
Longtime Giants beat writer Henry Schulman was asked about the prospect of Cueto returning this season when he joined Gary & Larry on Monday. He was not optimistic.
“I doubt we’re going to see him,” Schulman said. “Nobody has actually said this but when you try to rehab your elbow when you have a torn elbow ligament, you try to rehab it as opposed to having Tommy John surgery. If it doesn’t work then you have to consider the Tommy John surgery. So I’m assuming that’s what they’re looking at, I don’t know that a decision has been made.
The development is yet another set back for Cueto, who signed six year, $130 million contract with the Giants in 2016.
“The contract hasn’t worked out because they didn’t win any titles with him. I mean he did a good job in 2016, he would have pitched Game 5 against the Cubs. 2017 he had a bad year, he was hurt. 2018 has been a lost year. The thing is if he has Tommy John surgery, if he comes back in 2020, I believe he’d still have two years left on the contract with a rebuilt arm. You know it’s a little too early to put it in the dumper of history, but to say that it has not worked out over the first three seasons, I think you’re absolutely right.”
In nine starts this season Cueto is 3-2 with a 3.23 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP.
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Schulman on Cueto, start from 1:35.