Yankees place CC Sabathia on DL, knee injury might be season-ending

CC Sabathia may have thrown his last pitch for the New York Yankees this season.

The burly left-hander was placed on the disabled list Monday with right knee inflammation. Sabathia was forced out of his start Sunday in the third inning when the knee pain became too much to overcome.

[Play a Daily Fantasy contest for cash today!]

It's the same knee Sabathia, 35, had surgery on in July 2014. Given the problems he's had with it in the past and how carefully the Yankees have had to handle his activity, manager Joe Girardi says it's very possible that Sabathia is sidelined for the rest of the year:

Joe Girardi on CC Sabathia: "Is it possible that he doesn't pitch the rest of the year? It's a possibility."

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 24, 2015

Sabathia hasn't been terribly effective this season – his 5.27 ERA is third worst among qualified starters in the AL – and the truth is the last time we saw a dominant Sabathia was all the way back in 2012.

[Check out Big League Stew on Tumblr for even more baseball awesomeness.]

Heading into Monday's games, the Yankees trail the Toronto Blue Jays by a 1/2 game for first place in the AL East. With Sabathia out, New York's rotation will consist of Masahiro Tanaka, Ivan Nova, Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi and Luis Severino.

There's no questioning the talent there, but each pitcher does carry their own set of risks: Pineda is about to come off the DL, Tanaka has his own injury concerns, Nova is fresh off returning from Tommy John surgery in late June, Eovaldi has never been as good as his peripherals suggest he should be and Severino made his big-league debut less than a month ago.

These are not your annoying older cousin's Yankees. Losing Sabathia is not the death blow it would have been a few years ago, but it highlights the fact they're going to be in tough to keep up with the high-flying Blue Jays in the race for the division title.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

- - - - - - -

Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr

• Sports & Recreation
• Baseball
• CC Sabathia
• New York Yankees
• Joe Girardi

_{-- Delivered by Feed43 service}

Share This :