Yankees to activate Bird, forcing tough roster call

New York — The Yankees plan to activate first baseman Greg Bird from the disabled list before today’s game against the Los Angeles Angels, forcing New York to make a difficult roster decision.

Bird has been sidelined since having right ankle surgery on March 27. New York likely will decide whether to cut from eight relief pitchers to seven or option Tyler Austin to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre despite his strong performance in Bird’s absence.

“It’s something that we had a lot of conversations about, are still mulling over, just met a little bit ago to work through things and what we think the best way to go is,” manager Aaron Boone said before Friday’s game against the Angels. “It leads to a difficult decision, not a simple one, not an obvious one and something we’re still kind of working through.”

New York optioned left-hander Ryan Bollinger to Double-A Trenton after Wednesday’s game at Texas and maintained its eight-man bullpen by activating right-hander Tommy Kahnle from the DL on Friday. Kahnle has not pitched for the Yankees since April 12 because of right shoulder tendinitis, which caused a 3 mph drop in his fastball average velocity this season to 95 mph.

Short outings by starters stress the bullpen, and an extra reliever helps spread the workload.

“What’s the best way to kind of protect everyone but optimize our roster?” Boone said.

Austin is hitting .238 with eight homers, 23 RBIs and an .832 OPS and can be optioned to the minors.

“He’s been an impact performer for us,” Boone said. “He’s a reason why we’re sitting here where we are with a strong record. He’s one of those guys that’s played a major role in that, and we expect that continue through this year.”