Yankees bullpen injury shuffle gives intriguing reliever a playoff roster audition

With seven games left in the regular season, the New York Yankees hold a five-game advantage over the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East race. If the two teams weren't facing each other three times next week, this'd be locked up already. As it stands, New York has a little more work to do, but has already clinched homefield advantage in their opening playoff series; no matter what happens, they cannot dip below the No. 4 seed.

That means that every roster move opens the door to experimentation, and hints at plenty about the Yankees' playoff plans. Each game is crucial, but not quite do-or-die. That means that, if the Yankees want to be creative, they have an opportunity to make risky upside plays rather than go with the safer option.

On Sunday afternoon, the Yankees relented to the inevitable, placing righty Jake Cousins on the injured list (retroactive to Sept. 20) with a pectoral muscle issue. Cousins might still be activated for the postseason, but there's a chance that his regressive command in recent weeks can be blamed on his injury woes. If so, his roster spot -- as well as Marcus Stroman's, and Mark Leiter Jr.'s -- might be up for grabs.

Was Cousins replaced by a familiar face or a known quantity, like Scott Effross or Cody Poteet? No, no. The Yankees went with Clayton Beeter, who made the Opening Day roster, was demoted after his MLB debut, and spent much of the year rehabbing from a shoulder injury. But Beeter believes he could deserves playoff roster consideration out of the 'pen, and now it's time to see if he's correct in that self-assessment.

Yankees Playoff Roster: Here's your chance, Clayton Beeter!

Beeter, in September with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, has struck out 12 men in seven shutout innings of relief across five games, allowing just a pair of hits.

His last outing was Sept. 19, meaning he should be available for multiple innings on Sunday afternoon in Oakland, the Yankees already having won the series. After Leiter Jr. managed to erase two shutout frames on Saturday, Beeter should enter Sunday's game, no matter the situation on the scoreboard.

The time for experimentation is now, especially if Cousins' ailment does linger.