CC Sabathia expects to throw a bullpen session Saturday or Sunday and to be able to pitch for the Yankees when they visit Boston next week, a much rosier outlook than after he left his most recent start Tuesday with pain in his surgically repaired right knee.
“To go home,” Sabathia said when asked what he was thinking in the immediate aftermath of his latest bout with knee issues that left him despondent following the game in Toronto. “Quite honestly, yes, that’s what I was thinking. I was in a lot of pain. I felt like I was letting the team down. I was disappointed in myself for letting my knee get to this point again. There was a lot going through my head.”
But an MRI exam that showed no further structural damage and a conversation with his wife, Amber, helped clear Sabathia’s mind.
“The MRI made me feel kind of better and then my wife talked me straight,” said Sabathia, who received an injection Wednesday of cortisone, platelet-rich plasma and stem cells.
Any relief Sabathia felt upon learning there was no new injury was overshadowed by the reality his knee could act up at any time. That’s something he will consider when deciding whether to keep playing after his contract ends following this season.
“It’s not fun,’’ Sabathia said of dealing with the injury. “The other night wasn’t fun. Everything leading up to this puts you in bad place. … There’s just no reason [for the pain]. It’s just a bad knee. There’s nothing in there to point to.”
The Yankees placed Sabathia on the 10-day disabled list Friday, retroactive to Wednesday, meaning rookie Jordan Montgomery will take Sabathia’s spot in the rotation on Sunday against the Red Sox and Chris Sale.
Sabathia last had a shot following arthroscopic surgery on the degenerative right knee following last season.
Once he comes off the DL, Sabathia said he will have to keep a closer eye on the right knee, because there were no symptoms prior to Tuesday, when he was forced out of the game after just three innings.
“We were doing [the shot] every week until January and then nothing,” Sabathia said before the Yankees’ 5-4 come-from-behind win over the Red Sox on Friday. “I felt great. We had plans around the All-Star break, but there was no swelling. … I should be on top of it better.”
Manager Joe Girardi, though, said there was no reason for Sabathia or the medical staff to second-guess their decision to not go through with the shots during the year.
“There were no symptoms,’’ Girardi said. “You hate to just give a guy shots when he doesn’t have symptoms. It’s a tricky situation. It’s somewhat of a fragile knee that has held up really well. It just kind of sprung on him that day. It shocked him. It shocked us.”
The manager admitted the Yankees won’t know just how healthy Sabathia is before he takes the mound again. So far, he only has played catch.
“I think there’s going to be a question mark til he throws a bullpen and if he feels the pain or there’s a lack of stability [in the knee],” Girardi said.