Giants activate Mike Yastrzemski off IL, make other roster moves

The Giants made a number of roster moves ahead of Friday night’s game. The biggest bit of news is the return of Mike Yastrzemski, who has been out since April 26. While he’s not in the lineup on Friday night, he is available off the bench and should return to the lineup in the next couple of days. The 30-year-old outfielder put up a .215/.303/.468 line before straining his oblique.

With Yaz coming off the injured list, Alex Dickerson is heading the other way. Dickerson lands on the injured list with a bone bruise on his shoulder. Coming off a 150 wRC+ over a 52-game stretch in 2020, Dickerson has stumbled to a .213/.280/.347 line to start the season (79 wRC+). His strikeout rate is up from 17.6 percent to 22.0 percent, and his walk rate is down from 9.4 percent to 6.1 percent. He’ll get an opportunity to reset after recovering from this shoulder impingement.

Jarlin Garcia has also been added to the active roster to take Joey Bart’s spot after he was optioned to Triple-A, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Garcia had been out with left knee tendinitis. He surrendered six earned runs over 6 1/3 innings in five appearances early this season. All in all, it was a mixed bag for the 28-year-old southpaw, who managed a strong 32.1 percent strikeout rate despite serving up a pair of home runs and struggling with his command to the tune of a way-too-high 17.9 percent walk rate.

Finally, Johnny Cueto will return to the rotation on Sunday, and with Kevin Gausman set to return after his second vaccine shot, Logan Webb is likely headed to the bullpen. The Giants have been planning to use him as multi-inning reliever out of the pen, but injuries to Cueto and Alex Wood have kept him in the rotation to start the year. The Giants will need to make a roster move to bring Cueto back, with Sam Selman and Zack Littell being possible candidates for demotion, writes Slusser.