Yankee ace CC Sabathia underwent arthroscopic surgery this morning to "correct a small meniscus tear in his right knee," the team said in a statement released a few minutes ago. The operation was performed by team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Earlier this week, Sabathia told our own Mark Feinsand via text message that the surgery would be "no big deal. I'll be ready to throw by Dec. 1 like always." His knee bothered him during the season, though he said it did not affect him on the mound, only on the days following his starts.

While Sabathia seems confident everything will be fine, he does have to prove that on the field during spring training. Sabathia, who is 6-7 and north of 300 pounds, lands on his right foot in his pitching motion. We'll know more when he's back out there.

Joe Girardi said the Yankees knew about Sabathia's knee condition pretty early in the season and Sabathia "had to manage it somewhat. As afar as hurting, at times it was more sore than others and they had to back off weight room or conditioning. There were times it was sorer than others. But there was never a start that was in question because of his knee. We talked about it every once in a while, but our staff did a great job of managing it."

Still, Girardi admitted that whenever Sabathia's mechanics went sour, the manager thought of the knee. "I always wondered if he got out of whack if his knee was sore or weak," Girardi said. "He said it didn’t. but a lot of times a player can mask pain. My thought is it could've had something to do with it."

The knee did not prevent Girardi from using Sabathia as a reliever in Game 6 of the ALCS against Texas, the manager said.