Yankees lefty CC Sabathia underwent surgery on his troublesome right knee last week, and doctors found and removed a bone spur near his ACL. But now the real work and worry begins.
Sabathia acknowledged Tuesday his knee likely will not be 100 percent again and that he continually will undergo some form of treatment to continue pitching.
“In talking to the doctors, I’m always going to need something, from getting it drained to getting PRP [platelet-rich plasma] shots that I’m going to have to do,” Sabathia said before the Yankees’ 4-3, 12-inning loss to the Tigers at Yankee Stadium. “We’ll see how it goes and get used to it.”
Asked if he would be 100 percent again, Sabathia, 34, said, “No,” but quickly noted “if it’s like this, I can deal with it.”
Sabathia has no cartilage remaining under his knee cap and, because of that, he will constantly require treatment.
Sabathia, who underwent the season-ending surgery Thursday, came to the Yankees clubhouse on crutches Tuesday.
Sabathia last pitched May 10, finishing 4-5 with a 5.28 ERA for the Yankees in his 14th season.
If there were any real good news for Sabathia, it was he avoided the more serious microfracture surgery, which the pitcher indicated would have likely ended his career.
“I don’t think I’m going to have microfracture while I’m playing. We talked about that and that’s not really an option,” said Sabathia who, despite his confidence for a return next season, still has no real idea how the knee will respond.
“I’ve got to test it to see. Don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be able to go out there and be able to pitch,” Sabathia said.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman expressed confidence Sabathia will return and relief that a microfracture procedure was avoided, but, being a GM, also issued a proper, cautionary flag.
“We’re all hopeful that [surgery] is going to help but always, that storm cloud is on the horizon that he’s got bigger issues that may rear their ugly head down the line,” Cashman said. “And obviously, out of all the choices, microfracture was the last.
“It was a choice, though. It was a choice no one was recommending. But obviously, if he continues to have problems with the knee as we move forward going into next year it’s just an unpredictable circumstance. You’re hopeful but I can’t predict what’s going to happen.”
Cashman obviously understands Sabathia’s reluctance about microfracture. But again, devoid of a crystal ball, Cashman claimed the only recourse is to see how it plays out in 2015.
He called it an “unpredictable future” because, while microfracture surgery is one option, there is no way to determine how Sabathia, or anyone, would respond.
“The unpredictability is if you can return from that. And that makes it not a really appealing option for anybody,” Cashman said. “Hopefully, this procedure he just had is good enough to return him to our rotation every five days for an entire year starting next year.”
For now, Sabathia will undergo stem-cell treatment in a few weeks and then proceed to playing catch a few weeks after that. He predicted a “normal offseason.”
“We didn’t know about [the bone spur]. We hadn’t seen it on the MRI. They shaved it out of there,” Sabathia said. “Feel pretty good. I had surgery Thursday, I think and I can put a lot of weight on it. Still on crutches, obviously, but I have to take the next steps and make sure it doesn’t swell up.”
And now the Yankees hope for the best.
“We feel he’ll be ready to go in spring training,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Any time a guy starts having knee trouble, and this is not the first year, we’ve had things that we’ve had to manage with his knee before, you know it’s a concern and you have to stay on top of it.”