© Mark J. Rebilas | 2018 Apr 17
The San Francisco Giants could be without Johnny Cueto for a long time. The $130 million man will undergo Tommy John surgery on Thursday, knocking him out for the remainder of 2018, and possibly all of next season.
Longtime Giants beat writer Andrew Baggarly joined Paul McCaffrey and Ryan Covay on Thursday and gave a best-case scenario for Cueto’s return.
“Best case scenario they’re playing baseball that matters in September of next year and maybe they could have him for maybe a start or two in the regular season and potentially even in the postseason, but obviously a lot has to go right for that to happen both for him and the team,” Baggarly said. “Best case scenario you’re probably looking at maybe he can make one start at the end of next year…just to give him some piece of mind that you can go into the next season and have a normal offseason.”
Since signing his six-year deal in 2016, Cueto has not be able to produce consistently for the Giants largely due to injuries. After making the All-Star team in his first season with San Francisco, Cueto posted a 4.52 ERA while struggling with blister issues in 2017. Cueto’s elbow problems this year have relegated him to just nine starts.
“We all knew when this first happened at the very beginning of May that he had the diagnosis. Two doctors told him to have Tommy John surgery and it was sort of a last ditch effort to rehab and try to come back, so this is not a surprise but it certainly doesn’t make it sting any less.”
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Baggarly on Cueto, start from the beginning.