Dewey should be in. At his peak, Jim Rice was one of the top 2-3 players in the game. Evans never reached those heights, but was solid for a long time.
@TomCaron
Rodriguez' velo is down here in the early going. Has only topped 93 mph on four of his 25 pitches. Not throwing his four-seamer very often. Something to keep an eye on as he works his way back after 18 months away from regular-season games.
PeteAbe
Marwin Gonzalez had one game at shortstop since 2018 before starting there today.
Scouts who followed the Sox in spring training wondered if they had a legit backup shortstop.
The answer is Xander should play 161 games this year.
aka Hasn't really pitched in 12 months, probably should have sent him to extended spring training. Seems like he's getting much more of the plate than he usually does.
I still contend that the biggest problem is umpires missing the outside part of the plate. To me, that's an equipment issue. If they had the equipment from back in the 80's, they could stand directly behind the catcher and see the outside of the plate. Currently, they set up to the side (do to their reduced equipment) and can't see the outside part of the plate.
And this guy:
@UmpireAuditor
Ted Barrett ended the night with 23 missed calls. In the two games he's covered this season, he's missed a total of 46 calls, the most in the league.
Just fire this guy:
@UmpireAuditor
Yesterday, Umpire Angel Hernandez was responsible for the worst called game of the season so far. He missed 24 calls with a correct call percentage of only 83.2%.