New York Yankees have no timetable for C.C. Sabathia’s return

The New York Yankees likely knew that it would take longer than 15 days for C.C. Sabathia to return when they placed him on the disabled list with a degenerative change in his right knee. It kind of goes without saying when you see that diagnosis, degenerative change, that the healing process is going to take longer than two weeks.

Confirming that fact, manager Joe Girardi say there is no timetable for Sabathia’s return and that he would be “kinda shocked” if the big lefty was anywhere near ready after 15 days. Per Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York:

"“Sabathia, who has a ‘degenerative change’ in right knee, was placed on the 15-day DL on Monday. He received a cortisone shot and a stem cell shot to help the pain…“…’There’s not a lot of history on this, but because they want the procedure obviously to be as successful as possible, he is on crutches,’ Girardi said before Saturday afternoon’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Yankee Stadium. ‘It’s not because the knee is sore, it’s because they don’t want any weight on it, so my guess its we’ll evaluate him Monday or Tuesday and see where he’s at, and then we’ll go from there.'”"

What will likely also factor into the decision with Sabathia is his relative lack of effectiveness before he was put on the shelf. Barring an accelerated improvement in his condition, Sabathia will face a longer timetable before the Yankees get serious about re-inserting him into their struggling rotation.