Scherzer gone, so Tigers hope to keep Price 'a long time'

With Max Scherzer out the door, David Price now has the floor.

As the former Tiger right-hander officially signed with the Nationals on Wednesday, the year-long question-and-non-answer session about the current Tiger left-hander's future in Detroit unofficially got under way.

The Tigers traded for Price at this past season's trade deadline for two reasons, president and general manager Dave Dombrowski has said all along, and he said it again at the West Michigan Whitecaps Winter Banquet Wednesday.

"We made a move at that time to not only win at that point with David, but also knew he'd be able to pitch for us this year," he said. "So I think he really steps in and replaces Max and we're in a spot there where we have two of the same guys."

Scherzer and Price, as Dombrowski said, are both legitimate No. 1 pitchers.

And they're both going to get paid a lot of money to pitch for a long time. Scherzer's turn was this off-season. Price, a free agent next winter, gets his turn after the upcoming season.

Dombrowski didn't elaborate on a contract extension with Price — the Tigers don't reveal negotiations of guys who are about to become free agents — and said in the lefty's case, "we'll just have to wait and see what takes place."

And what most likely will take place is that the Tigers will try to sign him to a long-term extension. What Price and agent Bo McKinnis most likely will say, based on the payday Scherzer recently received from the Nationals — $210 million over seven years — is no, but thank you.

Price, 29, is one of the top left-handers in the game and like Scherzer, a workhorse, a top 10 pitcher with a strong pedigree.

He won the American League Cy Young Award in 2012, and posted a 3.26 ERA with a league-leading 2481/ 3 innings and 271 strikeouts this past season.

Whether or not Price is in a Tigers' uniform in 2016 remains to be seen.

But Dombrowski made it clear that Price would be pitching for the Tigers in 2015.

"I will tell you and I can safely tell you we've never had any trade discussions about David Price this winter," he said. "People have talked, I cannot tell you that somebody had not inquired about him a time or two, but we were never in discussions to trade him."

And he at least hinted at the possibility of pursuing a contract extension with Price, saying, "We hope he stays a Tiger for a long time."

Price was acquired from the Rays on July 31 as part of a three-team trade. Dombrowski addressed rumblings earlier this off-season that Price didn't acclimate himself to the city, saying that McKinnis made it very clear to the Tigers that he has no problem in Detroit at all.

"I think in David Price's defense, which would be any player's defense, you're somewhere for your whole career from the day you drafted, you're comfortable there, you live 5-10 minutes from the ballpark and get traded to a new team," he said.

"In addition, in August, we're on the road for the whole month of August so he never really got a chance to get settled. He comes here in September and he's in a spot where he doesn't really know his way around very well, so it's tough to get comfortable in that type of scenario."

The Tigers signed Price to a one-year, $19.75-million contract on Jan. 16, avoiding arbitration.

"He's a quality guy," Dombrowski said. "His teammates like him, he likes his teammates, he likes the situation here and he knows how we feel about him. We like him a great deal."

And over the course of the next year, the Tigers will find out if he likes them as much.

Contact Anthony Fenech: afenech@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @anthonyfenech.