CC Sabathia will undergo season-ending surgery to clean up his knee, according to GM Brian Cashman. The surgery will take place on July 23rd and the Yankees are hopeful that the left-hander can return next spring. This seemed like the inevitable outcome, so no one should be surprised. Sabathia's knee condition is degenerative, so all the clean up procedures in the world aren't going to reverse the damage completely. It's likely more about buying him more time.
This leaves the team with two of the original five starters out for the season with another pitcher's season in great jeopardy. Then there is Michael Pineda, who seems to have the worst luck at avoiding setbacks after injuring himself while throwing during his pine tar suspension. Sabathia was not pitching well before he went on the DL, so it's hard to think of him as a great loss in that department, but the fact that the rotation is held together with glue and paper clips at this point doesn't inspire any confidence either.
With the trade deadline approaching, Sabathia's season-ending surgery could sway Cashman one way or another toward bringing in a pitcher for the stretch run or sort of giving up on this season. Only time will tell. The question going forward from here will be how much the Yankees can rely on Sabathia to give them innings if he is going to require regular work on his knee that will only get worse.