James Shields Named Opening Day Starter

Bill Chastain has this from manager Joe Maddon:

Rays manager Joe Maddon surprised reporters with his announcement Wednesday afternoon at the Charlotte Sports Complex. Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza and Andy Sonnanstine will follow Shields in the rotation.

"First of all, Shields has earned a right to start an Opening Day, obviously, but we like the idea of Kaz pitching between Shields and Garza," Maddon explained. "You look at any one of those three guys. We're at the point now we have three guys we feel who can open up for us at any time. But, obviously, choosing one, based on the body of work Shields has done, we chose to go with him first. But we're just trying to balance this out, which makes most sense for us and we chose to do it this way."