Despite starting opening day the past three seasons, Stephen Strasburg will find himself sitting on the bench this year as the Nationals opted to go with their $210M dollar man in Max Scherzer for 2015.
The former Cy Young winner, Scherzer pitched his way to a 3.15 ERA and 252/63 K/BB ratio over 220 innings with the Tigers last season. That stellar 2014 compiled with what he did in 2013 ultimately formulated into a huge deal with Washington in the offseason.
Scherzer’s opening day start with the Nats will be the first in his MLB career considering he couldn’t surmount that task in Detroit with Justin Verlander always getting the nod. Ironically enough that won’t be the case this season as David Price was named the opening day starter in Motown.
h/t: HardballTalk, Washington Times (photo)