Giants: Will Smith Undergoing Tommy John Surgery, Fantasy Impact

The Giants bullpen is already dealing with some trouble as it was announced that reliever Will Smith will be undergoing Tommy John surgery next week.

The San Francisco Giants bullpen is going to be a lot different for 2017. The team decided not to re-sign their two veteran options and revamp the bullpen. Unfortunately, they will be without one of their newer relievers for the full season.

Will Smith has dealt with an elbow issue since February and it was announced that he will require Tommy John surgery. While he was going undrafted in leagues, he was one of the better relievers for the Giants.

Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area tweeted that he will undergo surgery next week. He also said the doctors feel optimistic that he will be 100 percent for the start of 2018. Until then, let’s focus on the current Giants bullpen.

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The Giants acquired Smith at the trade deadline from Milwaukee last season. In 18.1 innings, he posted a 2.95 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 12.8 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9. The walk rate leaves something to be desired but the rest of the numbers look good.

He was slated to be the Giants premier lefty out of the pen with Hunter Strickland and Mark Melancon ahead of him on the depth chart.

Without Smith, the Giants will now go with Steven Okert, Josh Osich and possibly Ty Blach as the bullpen lefty. They are all big question marks heading into this season.

Osich had a 4.71 ERA and 1.376 WHIP in 36.1 innings. He also had a 6.2 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9. Okert and Blach pitched a combined 31 innings. I can’t do much with that small of a sample size. If you need middle relief help in deep or NL-only leagues, I would look elsewhere.

Having those pitchers in the bullpen instead of Smith can affect Melancon a bit. Last year’s bullpen was the most unreliable when it came to saves. Out of 73 opportunities, tied for third most, they blew a league-leading 30 saves, a conversion rate of just 58.9 percent, 25th in the league.

I like Melancon as a pitcher but the lack of stability behind him now with Smith done for the year lowers his projected save total for me.

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There are plenty of other middle relievers available to draft or pick up off the waiver wire. Guys like Koda Glover, Kyle Barraclough, Carter Capps and others have a lot of value in all leagues. Smith will be back for next season, so I would keep him if you are in a dynasty league.

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