Yankees DFA pitcher after dramatic MLB debut to squeeze Giancarlo Stanton onto roster

Just because it's the postseason doesn't mean standards and practices are off the table when it comes to roster rules. The New York Yankees chose the unconventional route, activating Giancarlo Stanton as a bench bat/potential dramatic pinch-hitting option for the Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox. That meant they had to take him off the 60-Day IL and steal someone else's 40-man roster spot.

That man was Alexander Cornielle, who came up on Friday to soak up innings in a doubleheader, and ended up soaking up a good deal of driving rainfall, closing out the Yankees' final victory of the regular season.

Cornielle, a longtime Brewers farmhand who spend most of the season in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, had an MLB debut that left me rethinking the meaning of the phrase "meaningless baseball". He showed significant grit battling the elements and his nerves concurrently, getting enmeshed in trouble before finding his bearings as the last man standing.

Now, he'll re-enter minor league free agency in purgatory with an MLB lockout looming. The Yankees can, and probably should, toss him another life raft.

Yankees' Wild Card roster adds Giancarlo Stanton, has ripple effect on minor-league journeyman's security

As for Stanton, he wasn't actually chosen in a head-to-head with Aaron Judge. Judge, 13 days removed from suffering a moderate calf strain, wasn't ready by any metric. Stanton, who's been rehabbing throughout multiple setbacks this season, was better prepared for his likely role. He was the only viable option to play it.

The head-to-head was Stanton vs. Tim Hill, Ryan Weathers, and Michael Fulmer. Would the Yankees rather carry a marginal reliever, one who'd incite fright in a high-leverage situation, or would they rather carry the threat of Stanton?

Stanton vs. Cornielle was another overlooked head-to-head, and a sad reminder that playoff roster shenanigans have wider imprints than you might realize. Cornielle posted a 3.10 ERA in 72 2/3 innings at Triple-A this season, appearing in 17 games and starting 16 of them. Fans of the big-league Yankees never got to watch a crisp version of Cornielle, instead watching him get soaked and whipped by the wind in an unconventional debut. Survival prized guile over stuff in that particular circumstance. Now, he'll get another fresh start because of a comeback that was a long time coming.

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