2021 roster

He did, but I doubt equally. You must be thrilled.

Haha, nah. I would be thrilled if he would stop walking dudes though and if Dusty would not bring him in the game in high leverage situations so he can screw it up and piss off Astros fans even more.

Iā€™m sure he likes some of the underlying numbers, the spin rate ect and says ā€œhe should be goodā€ just like how I look at my Longhorns and say ā€œthey should be goodā€ but at some point you have to face the music, look at the results and say ā€œwell shit this just isnā€™t working and we need to do something elseā€ I guess Click isnā€™t to that point yet

Iā€™m confused why they donā€™t transfer Urquidy to the 60 day IL instead of losing another young pitcher?

I realize itā€™s a band aid until James or Baez is ready but it still seems like a better option for today.

RH are hitting over .300 off him. Maybe he should walk more of them. Someone needs to explain the 3-hitter rule to Dusty.

3 Likes

Maybe use him in a 7 run game with a LH hitter up that everyone knows they wonā€™t pinch hit for and 2 outs.?

With nobody on base?

1 Like

James Click is a bright guy, but for a guy that has now been in the front office for two analytically-driven organizations, there is no excuse for having a blind spot when it comes to Raleyā€™s performance this season.

Brooks Raley against RHB in 2021:

.304 BA, .368 OBP, .494 SLG = .862 OPS.

Put another way, Raley makes all right-handed hitters look like all-stars, and there is no way in hell heā€™s getting to face three left-handed hitters in a row, ever. The only manager who is that dumb manages the Astros.

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I am almost as unhappy about sending Abreu down as I am keeping Raley. Almost.

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Thatā€™s fair BUT of the 24 hits he has allowed to RHB, 17 have been singles. He has 23 K to 8 BB vs righties and his BABIP to those righties is .385.

Stop giving up walks and home runs, thatā€™s all I ask.

Two words for you: Grand.Slam.

To a hitter with an average of .186 at the time.

And that one was on Dusty imo. Raley hadnā€™t pitched in weeks and has been terrible at inherited runners so it didnā€™t make sense to use him there and then he promptly gets up 0-2 only to give up a walk to load the bases. I wanted him to leave Stanek in and fix his own mess.

1 Like

Brooks Raley doesnā€™t have the stuff and command to get right-handed bats out regularly. His fastball tops out at 91, his curveball breaks right into their typical swing path, and he cannot consistently live on the edges of the strike zone. There is no time I will comfortable with him facing a right-handed hitter, unless itā€™s mop up duty.

Yes, but so what? Baker is still the manager, and as long as Click keeps Raley around, it gives Baker an excuse to use him in high-leverage situations where he believes in lefty/lefty matchups.

If, by chance, Baker banishes Raley to mop up duty, Iā€™d be thrilled, but heā€™s given no indication he will.

Dusty into the phone" Get Raley up"

Everyone not named Dusty: ā€œDo we have a 7+ run lead?ā€

Dusty: ā€œyesā€

Everyone not named Dusty: ā€œIs anyone on base?ā€

Dusty: ā€œNoā€

Everyone not named Dusty: " Are there 2 outs?"

Dusty: " yes"

Everyone not named Dusty: " Whoā€™s up?"

Dusty: " Mario Mendoza, heā€™s hitting .124 with 0 extra base hits"

Everyone not named Dusty: " Any chance they PH for him?"

Dusty: " No they are out of players"

Everyone not named Dusty: " does he hit right or left?"

Dusty: " right"

Everyone not named Dusty: " Sit Raleyā€™s ass down !"

4 Likes

I donā€™t think we can say that now that the Astros have added four new bullpen arms. It remains to be seen how Dusty uses Raley with these other options available.

I hope you are right. Pressly, Graveman, Garcia, Stanek, Taylor and Javier should all be ahead of him in the pecking order, at a minimum.

That took too long too type.

I am going to save it so I can just change the names and paste it in upcoming years.

1 Like

Agreed

The only reason Iā€™m ok with sending Abreu down is because you can never have too much pitching and Raley does not have any options.

If Raley was the last guy in the bullpen and only used in blowouts Iā€™m good. Or if he was really good at faking an injury as soon as the LH is PH for.