Oakland A’s DFA catcher Dustin Garneau

The Oakland A’s reinstated catcher Bruce Maxwell from the restricted list on Monday, the team announced. To make room on the 25-man roster, fellow catcher Josh Phegley was optioned down to Triple-A Nashville. To make room on the 40-man roster, depth catcher Dustin Garneau was designated for assignment.

Maxwell went on the restricted list last week due to his ongoing legal issues. The A’s were headed to Toronto to play the Blue Jays, and he was not yet allowed to join them in their trip to Canada since he is still technically facing gun charges. His sentencing hearing is two weeks away, at which point his plea agreement will go into effect and his charges will be reduced to disorderly conduct. From there, with the legal process played out, the next question will be whether MLB wishes to impose any further punishment.

With Maxwell out of the picture for the weekend in Toronto, backup Phegley was promoted to replace him. He got to start one game on Friday, and he came through with a clutch RBI double in the 7th off Marco Estrada to give Oakland a valuable insurance run in a 3-1 victory. He now returns to Nashville, where he’ll wait for the next MLB opportunity behind Maxwell and starter Jonathan Lucroy. Phegley has now appeared in the majors for the A’s in each of the last four seasons.

When a player is placed on the restricted list he is temporarily removed from the 40-man roster, which means the A’s had an open spot all weekend. However, they used that opening to claim pitcher Carlos Ramirez off waivers, so now they needed to make another move to clear a new spot for Maxwell’s return. That move turned out to be a DFA for Garneau, who played 19 games in Oakland last year but was now the fourth catcher on a roster that really only needs three.

Garneau, 2018 AAA: .208/.263/.333, 51 wRC+, 2 HR, 6.3% BB, 12.5% Ks

With fellow right-handed hitter Phegley as the next in line for emergency MLB duty, and lefty Beau Taylor also present in Triple-A if needed, it was difficult to see a path back to the bigs for Garneau anytime soon. Of course, it’s entirely possible that he could clear waivers and remain in Nashville as a non-roster player, in which case nothing much would change and he’d remain in the deepest depths of Oakland’s depth chart.

Here’s the updated 40-man roster. Players in italics are not on the 25-man active squad, either because they’re on the disabled list (with an asterisk*) or simply in Triple-A.

60-day DL: RHP Jharel Cotton (TJS), RHP Paul Blackburn (forearm)