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
RPs are so volatile idk about cutting bait with him so fast
Brewers just need an arm now, the pen is gassed
Welcome to the Chicago Cubs!
No thanks. I wouldn’t know who he would take the place of if they claimed or signed him as a FA. Who knows. He might not be claimed and he outright sent to the Brewers triple a affiliate.
I think he’ll most likely be unclaimed on waivers because of the money and will accept an assignment for the same reason.
Red Sox/Blue Jays game of musical chairs round 2?
Poor Easton. 3 cups of coffee on 3 different teams
Can’t believe they couldn’t get something for Mcgee or Payamps. They will be good arms for someone. But yet they still gotta find room for Ashby, Hall, Yoho, Woodruff and Mizo in the next couple weeks. You get these guys back up and find some hitting and this team will climb back into it quickly. By mid June they should have a rotation of Peralta, Woodruff, Miz, Henderson and Patrick. Should send Preister down trade Civale and still will be 4 more SP that could be ready for the majors.
Should be a interesting time when trade deadline arrives as the Brew Crew should be buyers and seller’s
Stubby- McGee was optioned, not DFA’d.
Dirt bag Counsell is sure to take him with the kerosene pen he is working with
What makes Counsell a dirtbag? Did he hurt your butt when he decided to go to work for a different team?
He was well within his rights to do that, you know.
Craig has a big nose. He’s a dirtbag liar manager.
~mad1
Cubs already have enough guys who throw 100 with absolutely zero idea where it’s going. Judges? Pass……..Dirtbag Counsell? If somebody walked up to you and threw you a ton of cash tell me you’d say no? Too bad they won’t spend for players like that sometimes.
Fan: What did he lie about and what harm did he cause you?
ERA 8.35 FIP 4.44. Which do you think is his true talent level?
It was even worse watching it.
The man couldn’t hold a lead.
Talk about a long overdue DFA. Payamps just hasn’t had it this season. I won’t be surprised if he figures it out for another team though.
The thing I wonder about is how did the Brewers get two useful years out of him? I looked at his stats once before he was in MIL, it seemed like he was only good as a mop-up reliever. Whenever he got into a leverage situation, he gave up runs.
Dodgers on line 1
“You can close the book on Keltner. Thank God”
Harry Doyle
Easton McGee can’t catch a break. Pitched 1 easy inning for Brewers and sent out. Almost pitched a no hitter couple years ago for Mariners. Just looked. In 10 2/3 innings mlb innings never given up a run on 5 hits. You would think with he would get more of a look than that. Give the kid a chance!!
I’ve seen him pitch. He is awful. I don’t see why he got so much leeway
Freddy Peralta in a rotation with 4 ham n eggers. Gasser, Hall and Ashby need to get healthy along with Quintana
Henderson could be better than that.
The assignment that Joel Payamps should be designated for would be to time travel to the start of the millennium because he’s got a 2000s Seattle Mariners pitcher name.