San Francisco Giants’ Santiago Casilla To Undergo Knee Surgery

The San Francisco Giants already lost Ryan Vogelsong to injury earlier this week after the starter suffered a broken pitching hand and the news continues to grow worse, this time relating to reliever Santiago Casilla.

Casilla, who is an important cog in the San Francisco Giants’ bullpen has been dealing with a knee injury since last season, though, trainers suggested it was nothing more than a cyst. Still, the pain has lingered and Santiago has not only been forced to miss games here and there with the injury, he’s also been forced onto the disabled list as the pain has not subsided with rest.

Hoping to see Casilla back at some point this season rather than risking losing him for the year (not to mention having him be ineffective, pitching in pain) the Giants and Casilla have opted for surgery, as reported by Amy Gutierrez:

"Casilla will have knee surgery this week. Tuesday starter still TBA. #sfgiants"

The Giants were thinking of replacing Vogelsong’s rotation spot with reliever Chad Gaudin, but the injury to Casilla will now force the Giants to keep Gaudin in the bullpen.

There have also been suggestions that the Giants have inquired about Miami Marlins pitcher Ricky Nolasco, who the Marlins have made openly available, but given his lame-duck status as a free agent at season end, it’s unknown if the Giants would part with the price tag he’d command.

For now, it’s expected that the Giants are to replace Vogelsong’s spot with either Michael Kickham, Shane Loux or Chris Heston and maintain status quo in the ‘pen since Casilla was already on the DL.