Will the Cincinnati Reds return to six-man starting rotation?

Robert Stephenson will take the mound for the Cincinnati Reds in Wednesday’s game against the New York Mets. Does Stephenson’s start signify a return to a six-man starting rotation?

Robert Stephenson will take the mound for the Cincinnati Reds in Wednesday’s game against the New York Mets. Does Stephenson’s start signify a return to a six-man starting rotation, or will one of the Reds’ current starters be sent down?

Stephenson has been dominant at Triple-A Louisville over his last several starts. The Reds’ 2011 first-round draft choice was 7-2 in his last 10 games for the Bats. He struck out 73 and walked 26 batters while posting a 2.28 ERA during that stretch. Wednesday will be Stephenson’s first Major League action this season. For his big league career, Stephenson is 7-9 with a 5.10 ERA.

Wednesday’s upcoming start originally belonged to Anthony DeSclafani, after it was announced last week that the Reds were returning to a five-man starting rotation. DeSclafani’s start this past week was pushed back to Saturday afternoon after a rain delay in Washington caused the Reds and Nationals to play a doubleheader over the weekend.

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Tyler Mahle was sent down to Triple-A Louisville, and DeSclafani, Sal Romano, Homer Bailey, Matt Harvey and Luis Castillo would be the starting pitchers for the Reds. So, does the decision to start Stephenson on Wednesday mean the Reds will go back to a six-man rotation?

If they do, it won’t be for long. Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman made it clear a couple weeks ago that a six-man starting rotation can be quite taxing on a bullpen. The Reds’ relievers already went 4.2 innings on Monday after Homer Bailey only went 3.1 innings. Castillo gave the Reds a quality start on Sunday, but still only gave the Reds 5.1 innings.

Matt Harvey only went 4 innings during Saturday’s loss to the Nationals. So, if the Reds are going to go forward with a six-man starting rotation, you’d have to think they’ll need at least six if not seven innings from Romano tonight against his hometown Mets.

There is the possibility that Harvey could be traded through the revocable waivers process. If Harvey is traded after the non-waiver deadline, the Reds could return to a standard five-man rotation. Cincinnati could also choose to send Tuesday’s starter Romano to the bullpen, as he’s been a reliever on two occasions this season already.

The Reds have options and will have even more once the September call-ups come around. It’s nice to see Stephenson get a chance to show his stuff at the Major League level, but the six-man rotation is only sustainable for a short period of time unless the starters can go deep into games.