It's officially hot stove season in Major League Baseball. Well, almost.
The Blue Jays announced the team has traded reliever Joel Payamps to the Kansas City Royals for cash considerations Wednesday. Payamps had been designated for assignment over the weekend.
To clear a 40-man roster spot for southpaw Ryan Borucki, the team DFA'd Payamps. Payamps had a 2.7 ERA with the Blue Jays and a 1.067 WHIP in 30 innings. Toronto won a waiver battle with the Red Sox during the offseason to acquire Payamps, needing 40-man spots, he found himself back out of the shuffle.
Along with solid traditional metrics, Payamps flashed some of the best hard-contact suppression numbers in Toronto's bullpen. He ranked within the best 10 percent in baseball in hard-hit rate, average exit velocity, expected ERA, and expected batting average. The only glaring flaw on Payamps' baseball savant page is his low strikeout rate and middling walk numbers.
With Borucki healthy, Adam Cimber and Trevor Richards acquired via trade, and injured arms like Nate Pearson and Julian Merryweather able to return at some point this season, Payamps ended as an odd man out in Toronto's bullpen plans.Â
Sending an undisclosed amount of cash, the Kansas City Royals added a controllable arm with upside to one of the worst bullpens in baseball (4.72 bullpen ERA) while the Jays acquire something for an asset they could have lost for nothing on waivers.
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