The New York Yankees have placed starter C.C. Sabathia on the 10-day disabled list, meaning he is not eligible to return until August 24, just in time for a series with the Red Sox. Yesterday, Sabathia threw six scoreless innings in a win against the Rangers, and while appearing to be a little fatigued, he seemed fine otherwise. Today, however, he was complaining of right knee inflammation which was serious enough to sideline him for at least two starts. At 38, Sabathia is either in his self-imposed last season or next-to-last season depending on health and how the Yankees do in the postseason.
This is Sabathia’s second trip to the DL this season, according to the New York Daily News , the first time being caused by a hip problem. While his record doesn’t look that impressive at 7-4 in 22 starts, his 3.32 ERA does show that he has been dependable and getting the job done, he’s just lacked for run support. While losing Sabathia for any amount of time is a blow, if he is out more than this 10-day stint, the Yankees will have to make a bold move to compensate for his loss. Manager Aaron Boone announced that the Yankees made some roster moves in the wake of Sabathia’s injury, as reported by NJ.com , which included sending Luke Voit to AAA and calling up utility player Ronald Torreyes and reliever George Kontos.
This is most likely to give #Sabathia rest, or something could have affected him from his start yesterday. #Yankees https://t.co/eaVRm4qWRK
— Yankees Source ™ (@NYYTalks) August 13, 2018
In the short term, it appears as though Sabathia’s spot in the rotation will go to Sonny Gray, who was bounced from the starting rotation about a week ago to mop up from the bullpen. The thing that most fans are rooting for, and that the analysts say needs to happen, is for Justus Sheffield to come up and make Sabathia’s starts, as was reported at the Inquisitr . Why Yankee general manager Brian Cashman has not gone to Sheffield yet is becoming a bit of a baseball mystery, as discussed at the MLB website and numerous other outlets.
Bringing Kontos up really only makes sense if the Yankees plan to start Gray and are guessing they may need someone to throw long relief behind him. Kontos will not close, and wouldn’t even be fourth on their depth chart of potential closers, and he doesn’t start, so that makes his promotion a bit perplexing. While there are still a few analysts that think Sheffield will get called up after another roster move or two is made, or if Gray fails to turn in a quality start, for now the Yankees appear to be banking on Gray being better than he has all year for two key starts.
