The Atlanta Braves have made another signing, though this one isn’t exactly as high profile as the re-signing of Raisel Iglesias or the acquisition of Mauricio Dubón. Still, this latest move is one that
stays in line with what the Braves have been trying to accomplish this offseason. The Braves announced on Sunday evening that they had come to an agreement on a one-year, $2.25 million deal with reliever Joel Payamps.
The Braves initially claimed Payamps off of waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers in late-September and Payamps proceeded to pitch nearly three innings with two strikeouts, one run allowed on two hits and no walks to nine batters faced. Payamps had a rough season overall in 2025, as he finished with a 6.84 ERA (164 ERA-) and a 4.54 FIP (110 FIP-) for the season across 26.1 innings of work — good for a negative fWAR of -0.1. However, he’s not too far removed from a 2023 campaign where he finished with a 2.55 ERA (59 ERA-) and a 3.48 FIP (79 FIP-).
Judging by the fact that the Braves were willing to give him a major league deal, this suggests that they liked what they saw from him during his brief initial stint with the Braves and figure that he could potentially serve as a contributor to a competitive Braves bullpen. That all depends on Payamps’ stuff returning to the levels of effectiveness that he displayed back in 2023, which is when Baseball Savant graded three of his pitches as plus pitches according to Run Value. I’d imagine that if his slider and sinker can both get back to being as effective as they were just a couple of seasons ago then this could potentially be a solid move for the Braves.
Either way, it appears as if this is one of those contracts where the Braves are buying low while hoping for huge dividends down the road in the form of Payamps being an effective reliever out of the bullpen. We’ll see what happens!
