Orioles activate Yovani Gallardo, J.J. Hardy from the disabled list

Yovani Gallardo and J.J. Hardy both make their return from the disabled list in time for Saturday’s game against the Blue Jays. That means someone will have to go off to make room for them. In this case, T.J. McFarland, who pitched in Friday’s game, gets sent back to the minors.

He’ll be joining Mike Wright back in Norfolk, Wright having been optioned to the minors last night following his disastrous outing against the Jays.

Gallardo has been on the DL since April 23 with right shoulder bicep tendinitis. Hardy has been out since May 2 with a left foot fracture.

This is probably not the move the Orioles would have made in a perfect world. However, with the four-game suspension of Manny Machado looming, the O’s seem to want to be able to hold onto both Ryan Flaherty and Paul Janish for the duration of that suspension. That means a pitcher must come off for now and they can deal with the rest later.

Machado’s hearing for his appeal is reportedly set for Tuesday, and manager Buck Showalter hinted at the possibility that Machado may just drop the appeal on Tuesday regardless.

There’s never going to be a good time for the O’s to miss Machado for four games, but a less bad time is probably following the make-up game against the Rangers on Monday. That would mean Machado will miss two games against the Padres and two games against the Rays. Both of those teams are presently in last place.

They’ll have to answer questions later. Who will make the start on the next turn for Wright’s spot in the rotation? Do they have enough long relief if they can’t count on Jimenez to even eat innings in a blowout? Those are problems for another day. For today, Hardy and Gallardo are back, and that means things are, or at least should be, better than they were yesterday.