A’s roster moves: Dermis Garcia, Domingo Tapia called up

The daily roster churn continues!

The Oakland A’s called up two players Sunday morning, relief pitcher Domingo Tapia and first baseman Dermis Garcia.

At least one move was inevitable today, because the A’s had an open spot on their active roster. Yesterday they traded C/1B Christian Bethancourt to the Rays, but they didn’t call up a replacement right away, so they played with a short-handed bench on Saturday. Now Garcia comes up to take that vacant spot. Garcia also needed to be added to the 40-man roster, so he took Bethancourt’s old spot there too.

This is Garcia’s first ever trip to the majors, at age 24. He began his pro career in 2015 in the Yankees system, and made it up as high as Double-A by 2021. Last winter he signed with the A’s, and he’s spent this season in Triple-A, where he’s played 54 games for Las Vegas.

• Garcia, AAA: .251/.338/.444, 92 wRC+, 8 HR, 11.4% BB, 29.2% Ks

Those aren’t the flashiest numbers, especially when accounting for his hitter-friendly home ballpark, but they’re enough for him to get a look on this rebuilding squad. The right-hander’s primary tool is his power, and last summer he blasted 31 homers for New York’s Double-A club. On defense he’s played exclusively first base this year, but also has past experience at third base.

Analysis: The A’s are basically holding open auditions at this point, so why not try out Garcia? He’s still quite young, he has a notable tool in his slugging, and his primary position is suddenly available. There’s no commitment and no risk, just a free spin to see what happens, so if he doesn’t hit then they can move on to the next lotto ticket.

Today brought another set of transactions on the pitching side, related to the absence of starter Frankie Montas, who is dealing with shoulder inflammation.

Montas skipped his start yesterday, and rookie Zach Logue was called up to take his place. With that job done, and Montas not yet committed to missing another start, Logue now heads back to Triple-A. Sending down the emergency sixth starter means the A’s have space to bring up a reliever, and Tapia gets the nod.

This is the right-hander’s third stint with Oakland this year. He’s pitched three games in the majors during those stints, once tossing a scoreless inning but twice getting roughed up.

• Tapia, OAK: 3⅔ ip, 6 runs, 3 Ks, 3 BB, 0 HR, 7 hits, 3.92 FIP

For Logue, this is his third time being optioned to the minors this year. Under the new rules, players may only be optioned five times per season, so he has two more remaining. If a player is called up for a sixth time, and then sent down for a sixth time, then he would need to pass through waivers. (Note: Logue also came up briefly in April, but that one doesn’t count toward his options limit for two reasons. He was serving as a COVID substitute, and it happened before the clock started on May 2.)

Here’s the updated roster!