Manager Jim Leyland will be watching rookie pitching coach Rick Knapp's projects as they stretch out their arms and get prepared for the grind of a long season.

While every prospective member of the rotation has a question attached to his prospectus, each also has a history of accomplishing good things.

Verlander faces a year that will tell whether he can adapt to a lack of success. Bonderman must show he's recovered from a blood clot and subsequent surgery. Was Galarraga's excellent rookie season a fluke? Jackson must continue to cut down on his walks but also learn how to miss bats.

Left-handers Dontrelle Willis and Nate Robertson will either bounce back this year or face the prospect of continuing a downward slide to obscurity.

Right-hander Zach Miner stands in reserve in case any of the other six rotation candidates falters.

Those are the things Leyland has to sort out as he builds his rotation for 2009. Last season opened with three southpaws in the rotation. This year there could none.

Questions abound in the bullpen. Can Lyon close for more than two months? Will Rodney be able to get his fastball over and be successful as either the setup man or closer?

The manager will be on the watch to see if Zumaya can breach 40 innings without getting hurt. And he'll be trying to find a handful of other pitchers to put in the bullpen, one of the worst in baseball last year.

Leyland thinks he has a lot of the pieces in place. But he doesn't know.

That's his biggest project of the spring, finding those things out. Because if his 12 pitchers don't do well this year, he -- and many of them -- won't be around in 2010.

WHERE, WHEN: Joker Marchant Stadium, Tigertown, Lakeland, Fla. First exhibition game is Feb. 25 against Atlanta.

TOP CANDIDATE TO SURPRISE: 1B Miguel Cabrera led the league with a career-high 37 home runs and had a career-best 127 runs batted in last year in his first look at American League pitching even though he didn't really start mashing until midseason. His manager, Jim Leyland, preached all year to Cabrera about bearing down on every at-bat because he plays the game at a higher level than most, and it seemed he finally started taking that message to heart late in the season. His .292 average was his first below .300 in four years, and many insiders believe Cabrera has Triple Crown potential. At 26, he's only now reaching his physical peak, and instead of going down, he could be headed for new performance milestones.

TOP CANDIDATE TO DISAPPOINT: LF Carlos Guillen followed seven straight years in which his batting average rose with two straight seasons of decline. He played through knee and hamstring ailments in 2007 but missed most of last August and all of September because of a balky back, and at age 33 those could be signs he's hitting the wall physically. Moving him to the outfield is part of a plan to improve Detroit's overall defense (he came to pro ball as an outfielder), but injuries were a problem for Guillen early in his career and it could be that he's on the verge of simply wearing out.

AUTHORITY FIGURES: Manager Jim Leyland is 257-229 in his three seasons with Detroit, but his win total has dropped each year since the Tigers lost the 2006 World Series. That's one reason the organization decided to deny him an extension as he heads into the final year of his contract. Disappointed because his lame-duck status will be a news topic until it's resolved, he has acknowledged that if Detroit has a good year he will be back but if it doesn't, he'll be gone. The front office fired his pitching coach, Chuck Hernandez (and his bullpen coach, Jeff Jones, who was quickly returned to his job) in favor of Minnesota minor league pitching coach Rick Knapp.