Young heads to 'pen; Guthrie stays in rotation

TORONTO -- Right-hander Chris Young has been sent to the bullpen and struggling right-hander Jeremy Guthrie will keep his spot in the rotation, Royals manager Ned Yost said on Friday.

Kansas City will, however, skip the fifth spot in the rotation on this turn because of an off-day Monday.

"I don't want the guys to go through a six-man [rotation] two or three times," Yost said. "I'll skip Guthrie and go with him against the White Sox [at home, probably Aug. 8]."

Guthrie gave up seven earned runs in his last start and didn't make it through the sixth inning in a blowout loss to the Indians. Guthrie also has a 5.65 ERA.

"Young has done it before successfully," Yost said. "[Guthrie] has never done it before. It's the best move for our team."

Actually, Guthrie has relieved before -- four times for Colorado in 2012. Young had never relieved in his career until this season.

But Yost said the move is not set in stone.

"We'll evaluate week to week," Yost said. "For right now, Young to the 'pen. This will get us to the next off-day, the one after Detroit [on Monday], and we'll evaluate it again."

Young took the news as well as could be expected.

"It's what Ned thinks is best for the club and gives us the best chance to win," Young said. "If it's going to help us get where we want to go, I'll contribute whatever I can.

"There are a lot of moving pieces. ... It's a good part of our team that we have some depth there. It takes everyone to contribute to get where we want to go."