New York Yankees: CC Sabathia OK after heart health scare

New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia suffered a health scare recently regarding his heart. Fortunately he’s fine but the team should be careful.

New York Yankees starter CC Sabathia is seen in the featured picture for this article enjoying himself at the Brooklyn Nets game on December 7. Just a few days later he had a health scare involving his heart.

Reported by Ken Rosenthal of the Atlantic (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com), Sabathia began suffering symptoms like acid reflux and heartburn. He also found himself sweating more than normal after riding the stationary bike.

Testing led to a finding of a blocked artery leading to his heart. Knowing the potential ramifications of waiting, Sabathia had a stent inserted on December 11 at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

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The great news came out of the follow-up appointment that occurred. Sabathia was given a solid prognosis.

Both in the short and long-term Sabathia is projected to be in good health thanks to the stent.

The report indicates that since he is already cleared to resume light weights he will head to Spring Training on time.

Good for Sabathia, as Cashman noted, for letting the team know the problem quickly:

"“We are thankful that CC was smart enough to convey his symptoms to our medical staff, and in turn, they immediately engaged New York-Presbyterian Hospital, who quickly determined the root cause of what ailed him,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “We are also encouraged that the procedure CC underwent was performed as planned.”"

CC has posted 129 wins over ten years with New York and they will be looking for him to be a stabilizing veteran at the back-end of the rotation.

Despite the good prognosis, they had better be careful here. This could turn on a dime into something that is a problem.

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When you are dealing with the heart, you are playing with fire. As a 41-year-old heart patient, I can tell all of you that without any hesitation. Any small symptom can turn into a big problem with the snap of a finger.

And yes, the stent has relieved the current problem. But we don’t know the root of CC’s heart problems. They could be congenital. In other words, he may have a family history of heart issues.

What that says is despite the stent other problems may return. The Yankees medical staff had better keep a close watch on their veteran in his final season.

Now, I am not saying to sideline him if the doctors are saying he is OK. The point is that the doctors need to pay extra attention. Working extra EKG’s and Echocardiograms would make a lot of sense during the upcoming season.

Just be careful, that’s all I am saying.

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