The Truth Behind CC’s Skipped Start

The New York Yankees recently skipped CC Sabathia’s last start before his victory on Wednesday night in order to give him some more time to work on things he and Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild were said to be working on. Nowhere in the articles or the quotes did anyone, especially Yankees manager Joe Girardi, state that Sabathia had to have his surgically repaired right knee drained before the start on Wednesday.

Sabathia’s right knee had a bit of excess fluid built up in it and had it drained since he had a few days off. I can remember reading that the fluid buildup would be an ongoing issue after the Yankees found out that he had degenerative knee damage last season so there might be some truth to the whole “working on things in the bullpen” statement, but I don’t buy it.