The Brewers and Athletics are nearing a trade that would send catcher George Kottaras to Oakland, Jon Morosi of Fox Sports reported Saturday.

The Brewers designated Kottaras for assignment Thursday but claimed to be working on a trade to send the catcher to a club that would keep him in the major leagues. The Athletics would fit that bill -- Oakland catchers have a league-worst .531 OPS on the season, headlined by Kurt Suzuki's .213/.247/.273 line on the season.

Kottaras is a career .221/.326/.402 hitter for his career and has a .209/.409/.360 line this season. He has exhibited solid power in his career, with 18 home runs in roughly one full season's worth of plate appearances (601) and has a top-15 walk rate (14.7%) over the past three seasons.