Astros to Implement Six-Man Rotation

The Houston Astros have announced that they will use a six-man starting rotation for the remainder of the regular season, reports Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle:

"We’re getting toward the end of the season with a lot of young arms and don’t want to get overworked," manager Tony DeFrancesco said. "I don’t think it was a concern to shut them down. It was more about managing their innings, managing their pitches thrown."

Houston’s six-man staff will be made up of Dallas Keuchel, Jordan Lyles, Fernando Abad, Lucas Harrell, Bud Norris and Edgar Gonzalez. Gonzalez, 34, is the only member of the bunch that is over the age of 30, as the other five are 27 years old or younger.

Beyond managing the innings and workloads of their young starters, the Astros also want to use this opportunity as a sort of audition for 2013 in order to evaluate what they have entering the offseason.