Atlanta Braves DFA Two Pitchers
Both Payamps and Suarez pitched Thursday in the Braves' series finale against the Detroit Tigers, where Atlanta squandered a 2-0 lead and lost 5-2.
Payamps entered in the eighth inning and blew the lead. Suarez followed and surrendered two more runs.
By Friday morning, both were gone.
The #Braves today recalled RHP Hunter Stratton to Atlanta and selected RHP Anthony Molina to the major league roster. The club designated RHP Joel Payamps and LHP José Suarez for assignment.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 1, 2026
Payamps had posted an 8.22 ERA and a 1.69 WHIP across 12 appearances and 7.2 innings this season after the Braves gave him a $2.25 million one-year contract over the winter, a show of organizational faith in a reliever who had been a revelation in Milwaukee in 2023-24 before posting a 7.23 ERA in 2025 and getting DFA'd by the Brewers.
Atlanta claimed him in September, liked what little they saw, and re-signed him. The 2026 results have been worse than anything that came before.
Suarez was in a similar position, carrying a 6.61 ERA across eight appearances and 16.1 innings with a walk rate of 15.2 percent that essentially negated a career-high 26.6 percent strikeout rate.
He has been with Atlanta for two seasons and totaled a reasonable 4.04 ERA across 35 and two-thirds innings before this year's results deteriorated.
Underlying metrics like SIERA and xERA suggest he has pitched better than the surface numbers indicate, but the command issues that have plagued him throughout his career accelerated this season, and the Braves had no more runway to offer.
The Options Problem and What It Changes
Payamps and Suarez were both out of minor league options, which meant the Braves could not send either down when the bullpen needed a roster spot without going through the DFA process first.
For most of this season, Dylan Lee was the only optionable reliever on the Atlanta staff, which created a situation that gave the front office almost no flexibility to manage a bullpen with multiple injuries already in play.
The #Braves designated both RHP Joel Payamps and LHP José Suarez for assignment.
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) May 1, 2026
RHP Hunter Stratton and RHP Anthony Molina were called up.
With Stratton and Molina both carrying options, and Didier Fuentes serving as an additional optionable arm in the relief corps, Atlanta now has four relievers it can shuffle between Gwinnett and the big league roster without roster complications.
Spencer Strider is expected to make his minor league rehab debut Sunday, adding another layer of rotation help on the horizon as the Braves head into a west coast road trip at 21-9 and in first place in the NL East.
Photo Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
