Major League Baseball

Yanks' Sabathia drops 25 pounds

Published Feb. 12, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

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CC Sabathia has admitted his right knee hurt last season, which prompted the Yankees' ace lefty to have offseason surgery after the team's elimination in the American League Championship Series, the New York Post reported Saturday.

He would like to avoid similar knee pain in 2011.

"My knee was bothering me last year," Sabathia told the Post. "(I) just didn't want that problem again this year."

So Sabathia made sure to be significantly lighter this season, as he worked over the winter to lose 25 pounds off his 6-foot-7, 290-pound frame.

Though Sabathia's weight hardly had a tangible effect on his pitching results — he won a career-high 21 games and finished third in the AL Cy Young race — being lighter should help him over the course of the season.

He can feel a difference.

"I definitely could have pitched the way I did last year. But just trying to take a little bit of pressure off (the knee)," Sabathia said. "I feel a lot better. I'm just ready to go and (I) feel good, and my arm's feeling good, so I'm ready to get down there."

Sabathia had a minor meniscus tear in the knee last year, which has been surgically repaired.

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