In my most recent post, I mentioned several questions that faced the Phillies entering the 2009 season. Those questions have been put to rest, largely because the 2009 season is in the books. So now the question is, what questions are facing the 2010 Phillies. I’ll save my answers for another time, but here’s a list of things to ponder with less than two months to Opening Day:

1) Will the real Raul Ibañez please stand up? For about two months, Raul was every Phillies fan’s favorite player. Then, Ibañez went into a four-month slump. He still ended with respectable numbers, but you have to wonder what kind of production you can expect from a 37-year-old who struck out a career-high 119 times. It’s nice to know that Ben Francisco can provide Ibañez a day off every now and then, especially when a tough left-hander toes the rubber for the opposing team.

2) Who is going to be the fifth starter? It seems like every year the Phillies enter Spring Training needing a pitch-off to determine the final spot in the rotation. Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, J.A. Happ and Joe Blanton have solidified their position, providing a nice lefty-righty balance. Presumably Kyle Kendrick, Jamie Moyer and Antonio Bastardo will compete for the job in March and April. One darkhorse name to throw out there, though: Drew Carpenter. Sure, he got hit around last year. But he’s an innings eater who has had success at every level in the minors.

3) Can J.A. Happ maintain the same level of consistency? No one ever seemed to get a good swing on Happ last year. His sneaky-quick delivery and fastball with late life induced 120 strikeouts. But all of the sabremetrics couldn’t explain why his numbers were so good: 12-4, 2.93 ERA. If you trust the guys who crunch numbers and study regression analysis, Happ’s ERA should have been 4.33 last year. And so Bill James, the sabre mastermind, has predicted Happ to go 10-11 with a 4.31 ERA in 2010.

4) Will Brad Lidge be able to throw his fastball for a strike? This question could just as easily hint at the mental side to pitching out of the bullpen, but Lidge’s real issues dealt with his ability to control his fastball. Simply put, when you’re a two-pitch pitcher–fastball and slider–which Lidge is, you need to be effective with both weapons in your arsenal. When you can’t locate your fastball and fall behind in the count, you’ve got to groove pitches over the middle of the plate. And that means opposing hitters are sitting dead-red, waiting for the perfect pitch. In 2009, Lidge’s stuff was largely the same; his slider had the same break and his fastball had the same velocity. So it all starts with commanding the zone.

5) Is Cole Hamels ready mentally and physically for an entire season? After being the wonder boy of the 2008 World Series team, Hamels relaxed in the offseason. Everything came easily to Hamels, so he didn’t feel like he would have to do anything different to ready for 2009. Well, that came back to bite him. He wasn’t the same pitcher last year, and you could see how it wore on him mentally. And physically, Hamels has never been able to withstand the wear and tear of an entire season. He has the talent to be one of the best pitchers in baseball, we’re all just waiting for that to translate to the bump.

6) Is Jimmy Rollins on the downswing of his career? Rollins’ final numbers for the last two seasons don’t look overly discouraging. Don’t forget, however, that he was hitting .229 before the All Star Break last year and hit around .240 for a two-month stretch in 2008. No one expects Rollins to return to the MVP form of 2007. But he is the spark that makes this lineup go and needs to get on base at a consistent rate for Ibañez, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jayson Werth to collect the RBIs. And Rollins only got on base at a .296 clip last year, well below the ideal for a leadoff hitter. My biggest worry is that Rollins has lost a half-step, evidenced by his lower (31) stolen base total.

–Matt