PITTSBURGH -- In the end, the New York Mets did not end up having to choose between Noah Syndergaard and Dillon Gee for one rotation spot.

With Gee ready to return from the disabled list, the Mets plan to shift to a six-man rotation for the foreseeable future -- something they had been unwilling to consider earlier this season.

Noah Syndergaard will be a part of a six-man starting rotation for the Mets, manager Terry Collins said. AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Manager Terry Collins said he did not want to divulge the specifics until Gee rejoins the Mets on Saturday in Pittsburgh and has a chance to be briefed, but Collins essentially laid out the nuts and bolts of the plan, which should be close to a formal six-man rotation.

Collins added that Syndergaard's performance on Friday night -- in his third turn in the rotation in place of Gee -- is largely immaterial since the plan already has been devised.

Gee tossed 93 pitches over 6 1/3 scoreless innings on Thursday night with Class A Dunedin in his second rehab start since landing on the DL with a right groin strain. The Mets logically would wait until his next start arrives next week before formally activating him from the DL.

From one perspective, a six-man rotation is not ideal, since it dilutes the starts made by aces such as Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom.

However, the flip side is that Harvey, deGrom and Syndergaard -- as well as other Mets starters -- could use that extra rest for assorted reasons.

Harvey enters Saturday's scheduled start with a 16-inning scoreless streak and 1.98 ERA, but also on pace to blow past 200 regular-season innings in his first season back from Tommy John surgery unless the Mets slow him down. A six-man rotation will allow Harvey to get to the end of the season without reaching a team-imposed innings cap.

DeGrom dominated Thursday afternoon against the St. Louis Cardinals, retiring the final 23 batters he faced in eight scoreless innings. Still, Collins acknowledged that recent hip and shoulder issues had the Mets earlier in the week at least debating scratching deGrom from that start. So he could use extra rest between starts, too.

Syndergaard logged only 137 innings including a playoff appearance with Triple-A Las Vegas last season, so he may not be permitted to exceed 170 innings this year.

Meanwhile, Bartolo Colon turns 42 on Sunday. And although Colon previously has expressed a preference to pitch every fifth day, his recent swoon has convinced Mets staffers that extra rest may be warranted.

Collins said one hurdle to overcome will be pitchers losing sharpness when they are asked to pitch on two extra days of rest because of a team off-day between rotation turns. Harvey had faulted that extra rest in part for his struggles in Philadelphia on May 8. Collins said the Mets must do a better job keeping pitchers sharp with that extra rest. One possibility: a 20-pitch simulated game between starts in instances where a pitcher will go a week between outings.

How long will the Mets stick with Syndergaard and Gee as starters?

"We don't really know right now how long that could go," Collins said. "We've got a lot of managing to do of workloads. A lot of it. When you add Noah to deGrom to Harvey, there's a lot of maneuvering to be done. ... We're trying to do the best we can to keep from having to shut guys down. That's kind of where we're at right now."