With some depth concerns, the Houston Astros could do something interesting for their starting rotation.
Barring something unforeseen, the Houston Astros will enter the 2024 season with a rotation that looks very similar to what they had last year.
Despite reportedly listening to trade offers for their ace Framber Valdez, nothing has come of it and he seemingly will be at the top of their rotation once again.
So, with Valdez, Justin Verlander, Cristian Javier, Jose Urquidy, Hunter Brown and J.P. France available to start the season, they have more than the requisite five starters that normally fill out a rotation.
Depth concerns could become an issue for the Astros at some point during the season because Brown, France and Javier dealt with an innings overload last year that hurt them down the stretch.
That's why Chandler Rome of The Athletic thinks Houston will deploy a six-man rotation to prevent some of these problems from arising.
"Health, performance and preference will dictate whether the team utilizes the six-man rotation during those strenuous stretches at the beginning of the season ... In the past, Verlander has preferred to pitch every fifth day, but has softened somewhat on that stance since his Tommy John surgery," he writes.
Keeping the number of innings pitched down at the beginning of the season, especially for 41-year-old Verlander, would help them avoid some of the difficulties they had late.
But if they do use a six-man rotation, that could potentially take a pitcher out of the bullpen unit, an area where they're already thin and somewhat unproven compared to last year based on their free agent losses.
Spring Training will be telling in which of their younger prospects could eventually move into a reliever role at the Major League level.
Forrest Whitley is someone to keep an eye on, as well as their No. 3 rated player, Spencer Arrighetti, who was throwing at Triple-A last season.
Ultimately, it will be up to new manager, Joe Espada, to decide how he wants to operate.