Early yesterday morning, Oakland A’s manager Bob Geren made a switch to the Cactus League pitching schedule, flipping it so that Dallas Braden would start Friday and Trevor Cahill would start Saturday. As Susan Slusser pointed out, this would move Cahill back into the competition for the opening day starter slot. Earlier this week Brett Anderson appeared to be slotted in, but this change threw that into question.
We now may have an answer as Susan Slusser has tweeted that Bob Geren stated that Trevor Cahill will start Opening Day for the A’s against the Seattle Mariners. Although Brett Anderson is a supremely talented pitcher and Dallas Braden is the veteran leader of the staff, Cahill is the one coming off an impressive career year. Cahill represented the A’s at the All Star Game and finished 2010 with an 18-8 record, a 2.97 ERA, and a 1.11 WHIP.
It’s hard to tell what this means for the rest of the rotation. With Dallas Braden starting Friday, he likely would start the exhibition season finale. As I’m writing this, Susan Slusser tweeted that Brandon McCarthy will start tomorrow’s exhibition game and Braden will start a minor league game. At this point, I guess we’ll have to wait a few more days to see how the rest of the rotation shakes out to start the season.