RIGHT KNEE SORE POINT FOR YANKS’ SABATHIA
As he limped out of Tuesday night’s game at the Toronto Blue Jays, CC Sabathia briefly considered the possibility of walking away for good.
That’s how much his right knee ached and how self- critical the New York Yankees veteran left- handed pitcher had been for not better maintaining a chronic, arthritic condition.
Before he received an encouraging MRI on Wednesday, Sabathia’s thoughts were “to go home.”
“Quite honestly, yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Sabathia said Friday, feeling well enough now that he hopes to miss just one start. But after the threeinning start against the Blue Jays, he added, “I was in a lot of pain, and I felt like I was letting the team down.”
Unable to drive and plant on his landing leg, Sabathia gave up two two- run homers to Josh Donaldson. When manager Joe Girardi saw him fumbling with his knee brace and walking with a slight limp, the next stop was an MRI tube.
“I was disappointed in myself for letting my knee get to this point again,” said Sabathia, who has managed to pitch on a bad knee since 2014. “So there was a lot just going through my head.”
Sabathia, 37, has expressed a deep desire to continue pitching beyond this season, when his contract expires. But this episode might cause him to rethink that stance once the season ends.
“( It’s) something we’ll play by ear now,” Sabathia said of the knee factoring into his decision after 2017. “Because it’s not fun. The other night wasn’t fun, everything leading up to this.”
Sabathia didn’t hide his angst after Tuesday’s abbreviated start, admitting that initially, “I was freaking out,” about the condition of his knee and what that meant for his season, his career and the Yankees staff down the stretch.
The lefty flew to New York on Wednesday morning, when an exam and the MRI showed no structural damage. Sabathia was given shots of cortisone, plasma- rich platelets and a lubricant, and he’s already thrown off flat ground since.
“The MRI made me feel kind of better, and then my wife ( Amber) talked me straight,” said Sabathia, who now feels he can start “whenever they want.”
Rookie lefty Jordan Montgomery will sub back into the rotation, taking Sabathia’s regular turn Sunday night against Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale. Beyond that, Girardi hasn’t officially planned his rotation beyond the weekend.
Girardi wants to see Sabathia come through a bullpen session before he schedules him; he was placed on the 10day disabled list retroactive to Wednesday, allowing the Yankees to promote Montgomery from Class AAA Scranton/ Wilkes- Barre.
Mostly, Sabathia was upset with himself for letting his arthritic knee condition “creep up” at a critical time in the season.
Since having arthroscopic right knee surgery after the 2016 season, “We had planned to do the shots we did ( Wednesday) throughout the year,” Sabathia said. That plan changed, however. “We didn’t want to mess with it because it was feeling so good,” Sabathia said.
“Either way, I need to stay on top of it, whether I’m feeling good or not, just because something like this could happen,” said Sabathia, who had previously planned to get a new round of shots during the All- Star break.
The swelling has gone down, and Sabathia’s optimism is up considerably since Tuesday night.
“I feel like I’m having a good season and contributing and helping the team win,” said Sabathia, with a 9- 5 record and 4.05 ERA, though with a string of three consecutive subpar starts.
“And for an injury like that, something that I know can get as bad as it got, I should be on top of that better.”