UPDATE, Friday, 11:30 a.m.: Will Smith just told us he will undergo Tommy John surgery in Los Angeles next week.

Rehab options were discussed, but Smith said he did not want to risk missing both the 2017 and 2018 seasons if the rehab failed and he needed the surgery this summer anyway.

Here is the story that ran in Friday’s paper:

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Giants reliever Will Smith is leaning toward Tommy John surgery after both orthopedists he saw, Dr. Ken Akizuki in San Francisco and Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles, recommended it, manager Bruce Bochy said Thursday night.

Smith will decide Friday after speaking with his agent.

If the 27-year-old left-hander has the surgery to rebuild his ulnar-collateral ligament, he will miss all of the 2017 season and likely some of the 2018 season. He is under team control through 2019.

“They could rehab it, but if that doesn’t work, then he’s going to be behind a couple of months,” said Bochy, who hopes to decide by the end of camp Tuesday who will replace Smith as an eighth-inning reliever.

Steven Okert, Josh Osich and Ty Blach are the left-handed candidates. Blach’s starting experience could be valuable because he can pitch multiple innings and retire lefties and righties, as Smith was adept at doing.

Starter Matt Moore, who had Tommy John surgery in 2014, has spoken to Smith, more as a friend. They have a kinship after arriving in midseason trades last year. Moore said he hopes to provide guidance to his teammate should he decide to have the operation.

“It’s not a good place to be in,” Moore said. “I feel for him.”

Beckham released: The Giants crossed one of the infield hopefuls off the list Thursday, releasing Gordon Beckham at his request after team officials told him he would not make the Opening Day roster.

The club officially did not have to decide Beckham’s fate until Tuesday, but as the Giants often do with experienced players in camp with minor-league invites, they acceded to Beckham’s request to give him more time to find a big-league job before Opening Day.

Beckham was a long shot to make the team from the start, then went 7-for-36 ( .194) in the Cactus League. Fellow nonroster invite Aaron Hill is a favorite to win the open backup infield job, with Kelby Tomlinson, Jimmy Rollins and Jae-gyun Hwang also in the running.

“He still has value to a major-league team,” general manager Bobby Evans said. “We have a number of options, and we’ve still got to sort through those options. We felt we had to make a call for his benefit.”

Age was not an issue. Beckham is 30. He simply has not lived up to his first-round selection in the 2008 amateur draft, by the White Sox, three spots after the Giants selected Buster Posey.

The Giants have many such decisions left about players including Hill, Rollins, Chris Marrero, Michael Morse, Tim Federowicz and relievers David Hernandez and Michael Roth. Most of those will go down to the wire before the April 2 opener.

Nuñez vs. clock: Third baseman Eduardo Nuñez revealed that he had two cortisone shots in his inflamed throwing shoulder, one in the rotator cuff and the other in the back of the joint, and said he asked for an MRI exam after the pain would not subside.

Nuñez might be able to be a designated hitter by the weekend but cannot say when he can return to the infield, imperiling his status for Opening Day. Missing the opener is the last thing Nuñez wants after a hamstring strain cost him the final week and most of the playoffs last season.

“I think we’re good for Opening Day,” Nuñez said.

Briefly: Brandon Crawford and Posey will return from the World Baseball Classic and start against the Rockies on Friday. ... Jose Alguacil hopes to return to the first-base coaching box before the Giants break camp and said he will not need to wear any protection around his nose and eye socket, which were broken by a foul ball March 4.

Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: hschulman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hankschulman

Mariners 9, Giants 2

Notable: One of the Giants’ worst games of the spring. Matt Moore had a terrible outing, getting five outs and allowing four runs. Manager Bruce Bochy pulled him in the second after 56 pitches. ... Hunter Strickland lasted two-thirds of an inning and allowed three runs before he got an out, although leadoff hitter Mitch Haniger reached on a two-hopper off Jae-gyun Hwang’s glove. Strickland had not allowed a run in his previous five games. ... Felix Hernandez faced a lineup with two everyday players, Joe Panik and Jarrett Parker, and retired 18 of his 19 hitters. Parker cued a double past third base in the fourth.

Quotable: “Giving up two-strike hits is worse than giving up 2-0 hits, by a lot. It’s a good sign I was able to get to two strikes, but I’ve got to be a lot more consistent finishing the at-bats.”

— Moore, who got ahead of most of the hitters who then hurt him.

Friday’s game: Giants vs. Rockies, at Scottsdale-Salt River, 1:05 p.m.

— Henry Schulman