--OF Curtis Granderson played right field in the Dominican Winter League in an effort to enhance his chances of earning a starting job with Detroit this spring.

"I wanted to add another corner outfield to my background," said Granderson, who also batted third in his short time in the league. "I wanted to show that I can play any of the outfield positions and bat anywhere in the lineup."

"Granderson shows he can handle himself in the big leagues," fellow outfielder Craig Monroe said. "He came up, drove in 20 runs and hit eight home runs. He looks promising. But that's all still talk until we get together and start playing as a team."

Part of the reason Granderson went to the Dominican was to see more breaking pitches. He struck out 43 times and drew only 10 walks in 162 major league at-bats last summer. He hit .272.

--LHP Nate Robertson has given up his uniform number for the good of team harmony.

Robertson has worn No. 37 with Detroit, but that turned out to be the favorite number of LHP Kenny Rogers, whom the Tigers signed as a free agent during the winter.

Since the 41-year-old has seniority, Robertson was kind enough to give up his number. Robertson will wear 29, formerly worn by hitting and bench coach Bruce Fields.

--Jim Leyland wants his players to do their jobs and just have fun in the process.

Spring training will be a get-acquainted time for the Tigers and Detroit's new manager.

"I want to go in there and make a good impression on the players," Leyland said. "I'm not going to go out of my way to do it, but I want to make sure after the first couple days of camp, hopefully they think that we know what we're doing. That's real important to me, because I think that's where discipline starts. And I think disciplined teams win close games. I think the teams that play with discipline somehow figure out the way to win one-run games. I believe that.

"There'll be a lot of nonsense. There just won't be nonsense about our jobs."

--LHP Nate Robertson spent the offseason working with former Tigers strength and conditioning coach Denny Taft in hopes of ending two consecutive seasons of second-half performance falloff.

Robertson posted a 4.48 ERA over the last 10 weeks of his 7-16 season after entering a July series in Boston with a 3.85 mark. His strikeouts also fell to 122 from 155 the year before, when he tied for the team lead with 12 wins but had most of them in the first half.

"The big thing," Robertson said, "is I don't know if I focused enough last season on lower-body strengthening."

Robertson lives in the Detroit suburb of Canton, close to Taft, who has a fitness business geared to prep athletes and teams.

Taft cobbled together a program for Robertson's legs and abdominal muscles.

"Let's face it," he said, "those last five weeks were the most miserable month of baseball I've ever gone through.

"As long as I'm preparing properly, things will be fine. If you compare my numbers from last year with the numbers from 2004, everything got better except for strikeouts and wins. Everything improved.

"I'm in good shape right now. I believe in myself enough to go out there and get things right this season."

--Eight Detroit roster players, none of whom is expected to make the Tigers this spring, signed contracts for the 2006 season on Feb. 7.

Signing were RHPs Eulogio de la Cruz, Preston Larrison, Humberto Sanchez, Jordan Tata, Mark Woodyard and Joel Zumaya, SS Tony Giarratano and OF Brent Clevlen. Giarratano and Woodyard spent time with Detroit last season but are expected to open this year in the minors.

BY THE NUMBERS
.371 -- On-base percentage for 3B Brandon Inge for his 298 at-bats as a Detroit leadoff hitter. That figure would have been fourth-best in the American League had it extrapolated through a full season.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I can't say that at this point. I can't say we're going to be better. Really, I don't know. It would be irresponsible for me to say we're going to have a better year." -- 3B Brandon Inge on the Tigers' outlook for the 2006 season heading into spring training.

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