Ausmus Declines To Say Who Will Start Opening Day For Tigers

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

CBS DETROIT - Less than one month remains before Opening Day, and Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus has stayed mum on which starting pitcher will be on the mound for the season's first game.

"I know who might be, but I'm not sure who it is," Ausmus said at spring training in Lakeland, Florida.

Asked which pitchers are under consideration, the manager gave another noncommittal reply that elicited laughter from reporters.

"We have five different guys that are under consideration," Ausmus said.

The only real choices would be Justin Verlander and David Price, both veterans and Cy Young Award winners. Verlander, however, has started seven straight Opening Day games for Detroit. He had a rough season in 2014, one of the worst of his career, but is locked in with the Tigers through at least 2019.

Price, for whom the Tigers traded at the deadline in 2014, is set to become a free agent after this season.

Both Verlander and Price won 15 games last season, but while Verlander's injury-plagued efforts yielded a 4.54 ERA, Price turned in a 3.26 ERA despite changing teams in the middle of the season. Forced to miss one start because of shoulder soreness, Verlander pitched 206 innings in 2014, while Price led the American League with 248 1/3 innings pitched.

Clearly, Price was the superior pitcher in 2014. However, since the Tigers did not start Max Scherzer, who won the Cy Young in 2013, on Opening Day last season, it seems highly unlikely the team will supplant Verlander on the big day this season.