Always a good idea to declare the season over in May.

Yeah when Raley came in my thought was "well I guess Dusty has given up on this one".

IMO Raley and Smith are the guys that come in when the game isn't tied or within 2 runs. More like your bridge guys in the 6th - 7th to get you an out or two to get into the next inning to the next arm.

I agree Smith has been awful. Sitting out last year did him no favors. Ultimately the blame is on Baker.

How did Raley go from decent last year to awful?

Happy #MothersDay! We don't celebrate moms in sports enough, so I profiled Patty Biggio, who has helped usher in not one but two Major League careers @doinitBIGgio23 https://t.co/i6uSJlqrJB

— Kavitha A. Davidson (@kavithadavidson) May 9, 2021

redline248 said:

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How did Raley go from decent last year to awful?

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He'd been in the pros before and flames out. Maybe last year was the anomaly and not this year. This theory might apply to tucker as well.

MosesHallRAB04 said:

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redline248 said:

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How did Raley go from decent last year to awful?

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He'd been in the pros before and flames out. Maybe last year was the anomaly and not this year. This theory might apply to tucker as well.

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I realize about his previous mlb career. Maybe some combo of Astro coaching and major league hitters not facing him in a couple years helped him pitch better than his career? Now teams have a better book on him?

redline248 said:

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How did Raley go from decent last year to awful?

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Easy...A combination of no fans means less pressure and teams had no scouting report on him.

Raley's stuff is mediocre. Last year he got ahead in the count and could locate his cutter. This year, he's behind 2-0 to damn near every hitter. His pitches are also up in the zone - every outing. There's just no excuse for having him in a close game. Add in the fact that the 3 hitter minimum exposes his weaknesses, and you have damn near 10 ERA.

Lots of parity across MLB so far this year. Until proven otherwise, the three best teams in baseball are still the Yankees, Dodgers and Astros IMO and they're about .500 combined. Rays and Padres aren't much better. With last year being a shortened/odd season, I think there's a longer evaluation process entering 2021. Teams trying to figure out what they've got. Who can handle what roles. Etc.

We're 33 games into the season now and starting to get close to decision time on a couple guys. It's been obvious for quite some time now that Straw is not an everyday player but I get the need to stretch out his sample size to make sure. Guessing he'll be first on the chopping block in a couple weeks. Raley isn't too far behind. He shouldn't be pitching anymore when the outcome of a game is still in doubt. Mop up duty only and first on the chopping block when guys start returning from injury, unless he can start showing signs of life.

Smith is what he is. He's a righty change of pace specialist. He's definitely not a high leverage back end bullpen guy you can count on over 162 games. Hopefully we can get healthy soon and relegate him back to a role that suits him.

Carlos Correa, who's 1-for-27 in May, is not in the lineup for the Astros on Mother's Day.

Altuve 2B
Brantley LF
Bregman 3B
Alvarez DH
Gurriel 1B
Tucker RF
R. Garcia SS
Straw CF
Maldonado C

Greinke RHP

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) May 9, 2021

What is Tucker in May?

redline248 said:

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What is Tucker in May?

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Answering my own question

3-20 and 3 walks. He's had days a day off, too.

3-20. But at .150 his May isn't much worse than his April.

Nate Pearson is starting for the Jays today against Kyle Tucker and the Astros. They're both Florida natives and work out together in the offseason. https://t.co/CcvawNnk7o

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) May 9, 2021

Looks like Tucker and Pearson are pretty close friends.

Tucker works out?

Teddy Perkins said:

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Carlos Correa, who's 1-for-27 in May, is not in the lineup for the Astros on Mother's Day.

Altuve 2B
Brantley LF
Bregman 3B
Alvarez DH
Gurriel 1B
Tucker RF
R. Garcia SS
Straw CF
Maldonado C

Greinke RHP

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) May 9, 2021

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I feel like I've defended dusty a lot on here. Not a huge fan but I'm not going to pretend like I known more than him so give him the benefit of the doubt a lot.

That being said, why the hell is diaz not playing when Correa has the day off?

Yeah, I'm ok with days off, but the choices for who replace are weird sometimes.

Better question is why isn't Diaz playing instead of Tucker.

Disgusting

Here we go. .175, 154, .210 and .141.

Walks to Tucker and Garcia. You have to make this count.

Man this game is moving along SLOW.

Holy crap.

Finally got a strike in there

Wasted AB. Why take the bunt off?

I get a little tired of the pink as a marketing gimmick, but Maldy's gear is pretty sweet.

How do we have 1 run against this chump?!?!