Brewers trade Kottaras, sign Quintero

With the emergence of Martin Maldonado both at the plate and defensively, George Kottaras had become rather irrelevant for the Brewers. When Jonathan Lucroy returned from the DL, it was Kottaras who was the odd man out and was DFA'd. (A move we weren't sure would happen, since Maldonado has remaining options and could have been sent back to Nashville).

Unfortunately for the ladies on Milwaukee, the Georgeous Greek eye candy has been traded to the Oakland Athletics.

Though the story broke mid-afternoon, the details still haven't come out and the whole thing is not finalized. Who knows what the hold up is, but we have no word on what the Brewers are receiving in return for Kottaras.

The A's have a starting catcher and it was reported that their back-up is rather solid, as well, so it's unclear what the A's plan to do with Kottaras. Their regular catcher is a right-handed batter, so they may be looking to use the left-handed batting Kottaras in a platoon.

For reasons that aren't entirely clear, the Brewers went on to sign catcher Humberto Quintero to a minor league deal.

Quintero was DFA'd by the Royals earlier this season. Kansas City acquired Quintero in March along with Jason Bourgeois from the Astros.  Quintero hit .232/.257/.341 line in 144 plate appearances for the Royals in 2012.

Quintero turns 32 in a week, making him aging for a catcher and mighty old for the minors.

A quick check shows Nashville has a catcher on the 7-day DL, so Quintero might just be security and a guy to give Jaramillo a break.