PITTSBURGH — The Mets are making room for one more arm in the starting rotation.
With Dillon Gee on the verge of returning from the disabled list, manager Terry Collins said Friday he will go to a six-man pitching rotation, at least for a short stretch.
Such a move not only would allow the Mets to delay choosing between Gee and stud prospect Noah Syndergaard for the final rotation spot, but would allow the other four starters to receive extra rest.
“The one thing is we’ve got a lot of managing to do of workloads,” Collins said before Syndergaard faced the Pirates at PNC Park. “And you add Noah to [Jacob] deGrom to [Matt] Harvey, there is a lot of maneuvering that needs to be done. After I talk to Dillon and we’ll come up with a plan that hopefully works for us all.”
Gee, who missed the last 2 ½ weeks recovering from a strained right groin, is expected to rejoin the Mets on Saturday. Without a six-man rotation, the club would have to decide between placing Gee in the bullpen and giving him Syndergaard’s spot in the rotation. In the latter scenario, Syndergaard would return to Triple-A Las Vegas.
Gee is 0-2 with a 3.86 ERA in five starts for the Mets. Syndergaard took the mound with a 1-1 record and 3.18 ERA in his two major league starts.
Collins said he is unsure how long the Mets can sustain a six-man rotation. Two weeks ago there were concerns Harvey received too much rest between starts because of a scheduling quirk that gave the Mets two days off between the right-hander’s starts.
“The one thing maybe we’ve got to do is a better job between the starts if there is going to be more rest than what we’re comfortable with,” Collins said. “[Throw] a 20-pitch simulated game or something, but we’ve certainly got to come up with a better plan.”
Collins employed a six-man rotation for one start in late April, using Rafael Montero to face the Marlins. Montero went on the disabled list with shoulder soreness following that start and has been sitting idle in Port St. Lucie.
Though Bartolo Colon has endured three straight rough starts and may need extra rest, Collins said the six-man rotation wouldn’t be for the benefit of the veteran right-hander alone.
“It’s been more about workloads than anything else, about how to manage and get these guys and keep them strong and not doing too much and not giving them too much rest or skipping them,” Collins said.
“We’re trying to do the best we can to keep from shutting guys down, so that is where we’re at right now.”
The Mets had a close call in recent days, when deGrom nearly was skipped because of concerns about his sore shoulder and hip. But deGrom was cleared to pitch Thursday against the Cardinals and fired a one-hitter over eight innings with 11 strikeouts to get the victory.
“We’re fine, absolutely fine,” Collins said. “The test was [Thursday] for me. This kid was pretty sore. He got real stiff, his hip has been bothering him, so there was a legitimate chance he was going to get skipped.”