Hunter Greene’s latest elbow setback is a brutal one for the Cincinnati Reds, with the right-hander now likely to miss all of the 2027 season after undergoing a revision of his Tommy John surgery.
The team said Thursday that Greene’s recovery window is expected to run 12 to 18 months, according to reporters with the club in Washington. Cincinnati already knew last week that he would need elbow surgery, but the exact procedure wasn’t finalized until shortly before it was performed Wednesday.
For Greene, 27, it’s another gut punch after he had started to look like a true rotation pillar. From 2024-25, he posted a 2.76 ERA across 45 starts. Then came a lost 2026 season in large part, when he made only five starts after bone chips were removed from his elbow in spring training.
The Reds still have Greene under contract on a six-year, $53 million deal that runs through 2028, and they also hold a $21 million club option for 2029. But the timing makes this especially painful for Cincinnati: Greene will make $15 million in 2027 and likely give the club little, if anything, on the mound.
That matters even more for a low-spending team. Chase Burns has already moved ahead of Greene as the staff ace, and left-hander Andrew Abbott gives Cincinnati another quality arm. Still, losing Greene for what could be the entire 2027 season is a major hit to a rotation that had counted on him as a centerpiece.
In Other News...
Hunter Greenes Latest Setback Leaves The Reds Facing A Brutal Reality
Hunter Greenes latest elbow setback has turned a season that was already going sideways into something far more sobering for the Reds. The right-hander was limited to just five starts in 2026 because of elbow issues, and his 6.83 ERA in that stretch never gave Cincinnati much reason to believe a turnaround was around the corner. For a team that invested in Greene with a six-year extension in 2023, the expectation was stability at the front of the rotation. Instead, the Reds are staring at another long stretch without one of their most talented arms.
The bigger concern now is how much time Greene will miss and how long the organization will be dealing with the fallout. His contract runs through 2028 with a club option for 2029, so this is not just a short-term setback for the Reds but a major roster and payroll problem layered on top of the baseball loss. Cincinnati has built plenty of its recent outlook around Greenes upside, and the reality is that the club will have to keep moving without him for a while. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Face Huge 2027 Rotation Test Without Hunter Greene
With Hunter Greene facing a long recovery from elbow surgery, the Reds are already looking ahead to a 2027 rotation picture that could look very different from the one they planned around not long ago. Greene has been the clubs ace, but the organization has spent enough time developing and collecting young arms that there is at least a sense of stability around what comes next.
Chase Burns, Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo give Cincinnati a strong starting point, and Rhett Lowders return from injury has added another encouraging layer. The Reds believe that group can keep them in the mix for a playoff push in 2027, even if Greene is not part of that equation for a while. The question now is how quickly that depth can translate from promise to production. [Read more 🡒]
Rhett Lowder Is Finally Giving Reds Fans A Real Reason To Believe
Rhett Lowders first full season of real expectations has taken a winding path, from injuries wiping out all of 2025 to an early-season stretch that pushed him out of the rotation and into the bullpen. For a Reds team always looking for homegrown pitching to stabilize the picture, his development has mattered almost as much as his results, because the organization drafted him in 2023 with the hope he could become part of the next wave.
Since he returned to starting, the signs have been better. Lowder has put together a 3.22 ERA over his last four starts and has shown improved control, which is exactly the sort of progress Cincinnati needed to see after the rocky start. He has said the time in the bullpen gave him a different view of pitching and game management, and even if the bigger test is still ahead, he is at least giving the Reds reason to think the upside is still very much there. [Read more 🡒]