Veteran right hander Juan Rincon has 468 big league innings under his belt. Hard-throwing Scott Williamson has 439. Rookies Ryan Perry and Kyle Bloom have none.
        Between them Rincon and Williamson have spent all or part of 17 seasons in the majors, appearing in 753 games, winning 59 and saving 58 . “The question,” Jim Leyland admits, “is can they still do it?”
        Perry, on the other hand, has appeared in just 14 games, none higher than Class A. Bloom has never ventured above AA Altoona.
        But, as Leyland likes to say, experience isn’t everything.
        Perry easily throws the hardest of the four bullpen candidates. Bloom has the best curve. Rincon and Williamson, of course, have the most experience.
        With Joel Zumaya apparently out of the picture, at least at the start of the season, two or maybe even three of those guys figure to make the team.
        For those four, the coming week, when the Tigers play five of their seven games on the road, will be critical.
        It will be Leyland’s call -- with plenty of input, of course, from his boss, GM Dave Dombrowski, and from his coaching staff, particularly Rick Knapp.
        That was one of the things Leyland’s Saturday night dinner with his coaches and the several closed door meetings in his Marchant Stadium office on Sunday were all about.
        “I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Leyland admits. “As soon as I do, I’ll tell you.”
        Rincon, a workhorse reliever with Minnesota from 2003-07 when he appeared in 348 games, is still unscored-upon after nine innings this spring.
        However, Leyland knows a manager can get burned if he places too much stock in spring training games. “The question is, is his stuff what it used to be?” Leyland says.
        Rincon, who was released last season by the Twins, then picked up by Cleveland, signed with the Tigers as a free agent, in large part because the Tigers hired Knapp, who was Rincon’s mentor in the minor leagues.
        The Tigers claimed Bloom from Pittsburgh in the Rule 5 draft last December. If he doesn’t make the team this spring, the Tigers have to offer him back to the Pirates for $25,000.
        Williamson, who is probably getting his shot at returning to the big leagues, appears this spring to have  regained his trademark fastball. However, the Tigers are wise to be wary.
        Perry, of course, is the most intriguing candidate on the list. Leyland likes talent and Perry, the Tigers No. 1 draft pick out of Arizona last summer, definitely has that _ plus a triple-digit fast ball.
        He is at the other end of the spectrum from Rincon and Williamson.
        I think the Tigers are now leaning toward opening the season with Perry in the bullpen, at least until they learn what the foreseeable future holds for Zumaya.