Yankees activate Brett Garder amid flurry of roster moves

The Yankees continue to reconfigure their roster ahead of a four-game series with the Red Sox. Earlier today the team announced a number of roster moves, most notably the activation of Brett Gardner from the injured list. Elsewhere, J.A. Happ heads to the paternity list, Stephen Tarpley gets a call-up, and Tyler Wade moves back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Gardner, 35, landed on the injured list on July 25 with left knee pain. He was having a solid year leading up to the injury, hitting .243/.325/.460 with 15 home runs (105 wRC+). That’s more or less a typical season for Gardner at this point. He will give the Yankees plenty of options in the outfield alongside Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge, Cameron Maybin, and Mike Tauchman.

As for the other roster moves, Happ reportedly can miss up to three games. The Yankees had him penciled in for Sunday night’s game, so it remains to be seen if he will make that start. Either way, congratulations to the Happ family!

Tarpley will bulk up the relief staff, even if there was an off-day yesterdays. The Yankees haven’t gotten much length from their starters of late, and they face a stretch of 19 games in 17 days. They can use as many arms as they can get.

Lastly, by optioning Wade, the Yankees must feel confident in DJ LeMahieu being healthy enough to contribute. The 24-year-old had another lackluster stint in pinstripes, but he did manage to hit his first Yankee Stadium home run. That was pretty cool.