I'd be fine with Taylor at SS until Lewis or Martin is ready. He can also be the backup to Buxton in CF right now, leaving Kepler in RF most of the time, and play some in LF and RF. I'd rather have him as that 4th OF than Celestino who needs to play everyday. He's a proven OF on top of MI. Or if you get someone else to play SS you can use him all over.
Most of all this would leave Polanco at 2B nearly everyday.
The White Sox are being exposed in this series. Breaking it down to how they did vs playoff teams (13-19):
HOU 2-5
BOS 4-3
Mil 1-2
NYY 1-5
STL 2-1
TB 3-3
They beat up on just 5 teams (20-8):
BAL 7-0
MIN 13-6
CHI (N) 5-1
TEX 5-1
DET 12-7
They were on 39-34 in the 2nd half. 18-24 in one run games. Jusr 16-13 in SEP/OCT.
They were an average team that beat up on a few bad teams. They coasted down the stretch. Had there been another team challenging them in the division they may not have been able to hlpd them off.
Rocco said on the pregame show that it doesn't always need to be staff to get involved with these kind of discussions. And he's right. Donaldson is a veteran and I have no problem with how he handled it in the dugout.
This is the same point I was going to make after reading the comments here. I'll add that I think even with all the injuries they've had Baddoo would still be in Wichita right now.
My two cents here is I'd rather have Rooker playing everyday in AAA than one or two times a week in the majors. Also makes more sense to keep Willians on the roster because he could go a week without getting into a game and be fine. Not sure you could say that about Rooker or Kiriloff.
One possible thing not mentioned but may be likely is that there could be a 15 pitcher limit, as the new rules started a 13 pitcher max for 26 man rosters and 14 for 28 players in September.
Just read this on MLB Trade Rumors: Same article also states that once a player is put on the active roster standard rules apply. 10 days if optioned unless injury necessitates a recall.
To add to this his suspension was reduce via appeal from 80 games to 60, and there is a clause that if an appeal leads to a reduction a player is eligible for postseason. Had the appeal been earlier last season he would have been eligible last season. Adalberto Mondesi a few years back also qualified for that exception.
Regarding the change to a 28 man roster, I found this from MLB Trade Rumors in March saying it is a 28 maximum, so you cannot go up to 40. Also mentions a possible maximum pitchers being half the roster, which would be 13 as I was thinking.
Jon Heyman just tweeted that there will still be a 10 day DL for hitters. Not sure how they'll enforce either one when it comes to Ohtani or McKay though.
I saw someone earlier in this thread asking about the game in the other ALDS that is scheduled for MLB Network and if that will get a free preview. Just want to let you know that it is part of this preview as well. I would quote them but can't seem to find the post.
MLB.TV does not show postseason games within the US unless you have it through a pay TV provider. I have it as a standalone service and I got an error that you have to use a pay tv provider and since I didn't sign up with that, nor is Comcast one of there providers I can't watch it on MLB.TV.