NEW YORK —
The loss of Dinelson Lamet in 2018 contributed to turning what was going to be, at best, a mediocre season into a slog of bad baseball.
The Padres hope Lamet’s return from Tommy John surgery in 2019 will help further their fortunes in what has so far been a surprisingly successful run.
“If his rehab goes well and he’s able to be back at the end of the June, that’s huge for us,” manager Andy Green said. “He was our best starter going into 2018. … He was our guy. It was a tough loss for us.