The Brewers announced today that right-hander Aaron Civale has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. They have also recalled righty Carlos Rodríguez from Triple-A Nashville. In corresponding moves for those two, they have optioned righty Easton McGee while righty Joel Payamps has been designated for assignment. Milwaukee’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.
Payamps, 31, is having an ugly season so far. In 18 1/3 innings, he has allowed 17 earned runs, translating to an 8.35 earned run average. That has apparently exhausted the patience of the Brewers, getting bumped off the active roster. Since he’s out of options, they had little choice but to remove him from the 40-man.
It was that out-of-options status which led him to Milwaukee in the first place. He exhausted his final option season in 2021. Even before getting to that point, he had already been a frequent waiver claimee. The Red Sox claimed him from the Diamondbacks after the 2020 season. Before the 2021 campaign began, he went to the Blue Jays, back to the Red Sox and then the Blue Jays again on subsequent waiver claims. The Jays held him through mid-July that year before designated him for assignment and trading him to the Royals for cash.
Despite being out of options in 2022, he stuck with the Royals into August, before he went to the A’s on another waiver claim. Going into 2023, he was sent to the Brewers as a throw-in piece of the three-team, nine-player trade which sent Sean Murphy to Atlanta and William Contreras to Milwaukee.
Based on all of those transactions, several clubs clearly saw potential in Payamps, but the Brewers got the best results out of him. At the time he came to Milwaukee, he had thrown 113 innings with a 3.35 ERA. His 47% ground ball rate and 7.6% walk rate were strong marks but he only struck out 17.6% of batters faced.
Over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, he had a 2.78 ERA in 129 2/3 innings for the Brewers. His 42.6% grounder rate was a drop from his previous work but still roughly league average. His 6.7% walk rate stayed strong and he also punched out 26.1% of opponents. He was trusted enough to earn nine saves and 48 holds over those seasons.
But as mentioned, things have gone off the rails a bit this season, though it’s surely not quite as bad as his ERA indicates. His .373 batting average on balls in play and 52.2% strand rate this year are both on the unfortunate side. But on top of that bad luck, his strikeout rate has fallen to 19% while he’s only getting grounders on 29% of balls in play. His 4.44 FIP and 4.21 SIERA suggest he deserves far better than an 8.35 ERA but there are still some concerning trends.
For now, he heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Brewers could take as long as five days to explore trade interest. Even though he’s out of options and his numbers this year are poor, it’s possible there will be interest from other clubs based on his previous two campaigns. He is making $2.995MM this year and can be controlled via arbitration in 2026 as well.
Turning to the rotation, the return of Civale is a nice boost. He made just one start before landing on the IL due to a left hamstring strain and then suffered a setback while trying to get healthy. He has been a solid starter in his career, with a 4.08 ERA in 639 1/3 innings. He had a 3.53 ERA for the Brewers after being acquired from the Rays last year.
The Milwaukee rotation has been a bit of a revolving door this year, with Civale one of several pitchers to hit the shelf. Brandon Woodruff, DL Hall, Aaron Ashby, Nestor Cortes, Robert Gasser and Jose Quintana are all still on the IL.
Civale jumps into the rotation next to Freddy Peralta, Quinn Priester, Logan Henderson and Chad Patrick. Additional reinforcements appear to be on the way. Woodruff was nearing a return from shoulder surgery when an ankle injury set him back a little over a week ago. He restarted his rehab assignment last night and will probably make one more rehab start, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.Hall is also on a rehab assignment and shouldn’t be too far off. Quintana is throwing a bullpen with the club today, per Rosiak, with next steps to be determined after that.
Ashby is on a rehab assignment but his five minor league outings have all been two innings or less. The two most recent appearances were of the single-inning variety, so perhaps he’s being brought along as a reliever rather than a starter.
Photo courtesy of Dave Nelson, Imagn Images