TAMPA — The last time CC Sabathia was seen on the mound was Oct. 1 when he helped the Yankees beat the Red Sox and clinch the AL wild card.
Three days later Sabathia informed Joe Girardi in Baltimore he needed immediate help to battle an alcohol problem. And then the lefty jumped into a car and headed for a rehabilitation facility in Connecticut.
Sabathia understood if the Yankees got by the Astros, which they didn’t, he wasn’t going to be there to make a start in the ALDS against the Royals. Yet, the time had come to get help and the Yankees fully supported the move.
Tuesday in Jupiter, Fla. Sabathia takes the mound for the first time since then. He’ll face the Marlins in an exhibition game that won’t come close to matching the intensity of a regular-season tilt.
Still, it’s a small step in the process of Sabathia becoming a productive member of a Yankees rotation that opened spring training with a bevy of question marks.
Sabathia is no longer an ace, which is something the Yankees hope a healthy Masahiro Tanaka can become. Yet, the way Sabathia pitched in the final five starts a year ago when he used an elastic brace on his balky right knee has given him and the Yankees hope he can improve on the 6-10 ledger and 4.73 ERA he posted in a team-leading 29 starts. The 167 ¹/₃ innings also were the most on the staff.
In those five starts with the brace, which did not allow Sabathia’s right leg to slide, he went 2-1 with a 2.17 ERA. In 29 innings Sabathia gave up 34 hits and fanned 24.
As for the brace, Sabathia almost forgot to pack it for Monday night’s bus ride across Florida.
“I am glad you asked about it, almost forgot it,’’ Sabathia said as he retrieved it from his locker. “I feel real good, my legs are under me and that’s the biggest reason. In three weeks I haven’t had a problem. I have been running outside and I haven’t been able to do that in years. I feel good. I am more balanced than last year. I can get my arm up and be ready to throw.’’
After Sabathia goes Tuesday, the only starter not to have appeared in a game is Nathan Eovaldi, who missed time at the beginning of camp with a left groin problem that has subsided. He will start Thursday.
“This is where I wanted to be, with my teammates and competing,’’ said Sabathia, who will likely work two innings if the pitch count is in the low 30s. “I am excited.’’
During his 29-day stay at the rehabilitation facility, Sabathia learned it was not wrong to admit a problem. And he took something else away after reading former AL Cy Young award winner Bob Welch’s book, “Five O’clock Comes Early.’’
“I learned that you can just come back and have a good career,’’ Sabathia said.
Sabathia already has had the good career. Now, a lot closer to the end — his contract is up after next year if he doesn’t end this season on the disabled list because of a left shoulder problem — than the beginning, the Yankees and their former ace are looking for something a lot better than last season’s numbers.
He is encouraged about the brace and what he learned about addiction. So, too, are the Yankees. Tuesday the first leg of a long puzzle starts for both.
