Yankees’ CC Sabathia to undergo season-ending knee surgery

As many expected might end up being the case, the New York Yankees have announced on Friday that starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia will undergo knee surgery next week, and subsequently, his 2014 campaign is officially over.

The surgery will take place next week on July 23, and while not micro-fracture surgery like some had feared, it’s a cleanup procedure that will keep him out until next season when the Yankees hope he can return at full force. The issue with Sabathia’s knee is that the condition is degenerative, so at the most, this clean out procedure is, at best, just buying him some time.

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With this news, this once again confirms the fact that the Yankees have not had the best luck with their starting pitching staff this season. As of right now, they are down 4/5 of the starting rotation that they began the year with, never a good sign for any team that comes in with playoff hopes.

This news coming at this point in the month, however, now raises even more questions about whether or not general manager Brian Cashman will make a push to add some starting pitching before the July 31 trade deadline. They have already been considered players for a few pieces on the block, but definitively losing Sabathia for the entire year could change things drastically.