José Abreu's illness scare is one valid reason why the White Sox wouldn't release a 26-man roster for the ALDS longer well before they were required to. Even then, the White Sox waited until 10:35 a.m., or eight minutes after the Astros posted theirs, to share their roster with the public.
Hopefully this is the only time this week that Houston ends up winning.
The White Sox's 26-man roster ultimately followed the shape of the one I thought was ideal, with only a few minor tweaks, but the same major name left out. Let's examine.
Catchers (2)
- White Sox selected: Yasmani Grandal, Zack Collins
- Sox Machine requested: Grandal, Collins
No debate here.
Infielders (7)
- White Sox selected: José Abreu, César Hernández, Tim Anderson, Yoán Moncada, Leury García, Gavin Sheets, Danny Mendick
- Sox Machine requested: Romy González instead of Mendick
Setting aside the classification of Sheets (I had him as an outfielder), the White Sox didn't disagree with the need for an extra right-handed utility guy. They just chose Danny Mendick, whereas I chose Romy González. It makes sense for Tony La Russa, in that you'd trust Mendick to be better at avoiding rookie mistakes. I just wanted to avoid the situation where Mendick has to hit in a high-leverage situation, because that doesn't really work.
Outfielders (5)
- White Sox selected: Adam Engel, Billy Hamilton, Eloy Jiménez, Luis Robert, Andrew Vaughn
- Sox Machine requested: The same
Whether it's Brian Goodwin's back keeping him out of the mix, or his two-month slide into below-averageness, we'll have to wait and see if it comes up.
Starting pitchers (4)
- White Sox selected: Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease, Carlos Rodón
- Sox Machine requested: The same
Now we'll have to see what order La Russa uses them. We already disagreed over Game 1.
Relief pitchers (8)
- White Sox selected: Aaron Bummer, Garrett Crochet, Liam Hendriks, Craig Kimbrel, Michael Kopech, Reynaldo López, José Ruiz, Ryan Tepera
- Sox Machine requested: Ryan Burr instead of Ruiz.
The big news? The White Sox left Dallas Keuchel off the postseason roster for the first round, instead choosing Reynaldo López to be the designated long reliever in case a game gets out of hand. It's a better use of the roster spot to me, though hopefully neither would be seen in a game that can be swung.
As for the other, I figured Ruiz would get the call over Burr just because he'd been good enough to occupy a roster spot the entire year without debate, and that kind of reliability tends to get rewarded over a guy like Burr, who could still factor into postseason plans if it goes long enough. He's on the taxi squad, along with Goodwin, González, Jake Burger, Matt Foster, Jace Fry, Evan Marshall and Seby Zavala.
As for Keuchel, I've previous written about three pitchers to keep in mind when assessing his future. One of them is López, who worked his way back from being written out of plans to make a postseason roster. Keuchel might have less to draw upon physically given age and velocity, but he'll likely get the start of next season to sort it out.
From here, the big question is whether José Abreu will successfully lobby his way into the Game 1 lineup. Color me doubtful that they'd be able to resist his pull.
As for the Astros, they made their own bold picks of keeping Jake Odorizzi and Marwin Gonzalez out of the mix.
