HOUSTON — With a postseason berth all but guaranteed Salvador Perez Jersey , his frontline starters will make over the final two weeks of the season in deference to their workload and potential first-round matchups.Right-hander Gerrit Cole, the scheduled starter for Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners, will instead pitch the opener of the weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday. He is 12 2/3 innings shy of his third 200-inning season and has made 30 starts for the third time. His 260 strikeouts are a career high by a wide margin, 58 more than he had in 2015 with Pittsburgh.“He’s really been worked pretty hard,” Hinch said of Cole. “He’s been very consistent in his work. We have the opportunity to push him back a couple days; we know he’s only going to get two starts.”Article continues below ...Hinch will use care to not overextend right-handers Justin Verlander (202 innings) and Charlie Morton, who is nine innings shy of eclipsing the career-high 171 2/3 innings he logged during his age-27 season with the Pirates in 2011. Left-hander Dallas Keuchel has worked 191 2/3 innings for the Astros (94-56). Keuchel reached 200 innings in back-to-back seasons in 2014-15.“We are getting to that point where we’re trying to line up two more starts (for each pitcher), where they’re going to be, and how much rest they’re going to have in between,” Hinch said.Rookie right-hander Josh James (0-0, 4.22 ERA) will make his second career start and fourth appearance. He made his big-league debut on Sept. 1 against the Angels, working five innings while allowing three runs on three hits and three walks with nine strikeouts. James followed with two relief appearances during a six-game road trip, combining to work 5 2/3 innings while allowing two runs on three hits and one walk with eight strikeouts against Boston and Detroit.Right-hander Mike Leake (10-9, 3.99 ERA) will start on Tuesday as the Mariners (83-67) try to clinch the season series. It will mark his 30th start on the season, the seventh consecutive season that Leake has reached that benchmark. Leake, coming off his staff-best 18th quality start http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-ryan-goins-jersey , will make his 16th career appearance (14th start) against the Astros. He is 6-6 with a 3.67 ERA in his career against Houston, including 0-2 with a 5.00 ERA over three starts this season.Mariners ace left-hander James Paxton traveled with the club to Houston, fully recovered from a bout with pneumonia that had sidelined him since his previous start on Sept. 7 against the New York Yankees. With the Mariners clinging to faint postseason hopes, Paxton is incentivized to return to the mound, but he cannot do so until he has reclaimed full strength.“It’s really going to be a play-it-by-ear thing,” Paxton said. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get energy back. I’d have to be able to throw, throw a bullpen, and still have energy left to go pitch a game. We’re going to try and build up that energy as best we can and try to get me back out there.” WASHINGTON (AP) — Everywhere Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman goes these days, the same topic arises: What is going to happen with free agent outfielder Bryce Harper?“As if they think — I guess because I’ve been here forever — I know all the answers to everything,” Zimmerman said Saturday at Nationals Park during the club’s annual fan festival. “Yeah, you get that question quite a bit.”As much as Washington general manager Mike Rizzo already has done to try to improve a roster that flopped in 2018, that is the essential issue that is going to loom over the offseason until it’s resolved.Harper was drafted No. 1 overall by the Nationals in 2010, made his major league debut as a teen, won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 2012, was a unanimous selection as NL MVP in 2015 — and now could be gone for good at age 26.“Whatever team he’s on is a better team. He’s one of the better players in the game. A lot of us would love to have him back here. I don’t think there’s anyone that wouldn’t like to have him back Bo Jackson Jersey ,” Zimmerman said. “But there’s a lot of different factors that go into that. It’s a complicated situation.”Washington, which went 82-80 and missed the playoffs, made a late-season offer to Harper that was not accepted, which was no surprise.“They haven’t showed their hand either way, as far as what their timeline is,” Rizzo said. “I think their timeline is: When they get the deal they feel comfortable with, I think they’re going to move. I don’t think there’s anything urgency on their part. I think when they get something they like, it’ll probably happen.”Until then, Rizzo is making moves to shore up his team.That doesn’t include the outfield, though: The Nationals already have Juan Soto, who was the runner-up for NL Rookie of the Year, along with Adam Eaton, top prospect Victor Robles and Michael A. Taylor.As for Harper’s future, Robles said: “Everyone asks about that. A lot.”Rizzo has added a pair of catchers, trading with the Cleveland Indians for AL All-Star Yan Gomes on Friday without relinquishing a top prospect and signing free agent Kurt Suzuki to a $10 million http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-ryan-goins-jersey , two-year deal last week.He brought in a couple of back-end-of-the-bullpen relievers, signing Trevor Rosenthal, a free agent coming off reconstructive elbow surgery, and acquiring Kyle Barraclough from the Miami Marlins.And he joined Nationals owner Mark Lerner in meeting recently with free agent starting pitcher Patrick Corbin, a left-hander who went 11-7 with a 3.15 ERA as an NL All-Star for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2018.“We go into the offseason with a checklist every year. We’ve checked a few things off so far, but we’re far from finished. And I think that the Bryce situation and filling some of the other things that we’re trying to do are independent of each other,” Rizzo said. “We’ve always been an organization that ownership has given us the resources to do what we need to do to build a championship-caliber club, and I don’t see that changing.”NOTES: Asked about how his long-term deal could expire after next season, unless the Nationals pick up an $18 million club option for 2020, Zimmerman said he doesn’t anticipate “having any problems coming to an agreement moving forward.” Added the 34-year-old Zimmerman: “I still would like to get compensated fairly, but it’s not like I’m going to go somewhere else and play for an extra couple bucks. I don’t think it’s any secret I would like to finish here.” … 2B/OF Howie Kendrick will be “full-go at spring training,” Rizzo said. Kendrick tore his right Achilles tendon in May and missed the rest of last season. … Asked whether the Nationals will make a push to sign 3B Anthony Rendon to a new contract this offseason, Rizzo replied: “I think we should. And I think we have. And I think we will continue to do so. He’s a guy that we drafted, signed and developed and he’s one of our own. He’s a terrific player that nobody talks about.”