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Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Placido Polanco is approaching two noteworthy milestones in 2011, but he is not the only one. Let’s take a look at some of the milestones that some Philadelphia Phillies are closing in on this upcoming baseball season. Slideshow adapted from this original post on Second String Blog.

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Dominic Brown’s future in the Major Leagues is bright.  He’s 6’5, has speed, quickness, baseball instincts, and is looked at as a “five-tool” player. 

However, the Phillies need to recognize where Brown is at in his career before they throw him into a starting role, or should I say the lion’s den.

Here’s some reasons why Brown will start the season in the minors.

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Over the course of the past few seasons and offseasons, you’ve probably heard it said quite a few times. “It’s a great time to be a Phillies fan.” While that indeed is the case, it got me to thinking—where do some of today’s Phillies’ stars rank among the greatest Phillies of all time? How many Phillies could be called the greatest at their position in the history of this lengthy franchise? Are there any who could be called the greatest?

With so many options to consider, a few factors weighed heavily on these rankings. The overall success of a player’s career was taken into consideration, but his career with the Phillies played an enormous part in these rankings. For example. if a player played three tremendous seasons in Philadelphia, but excelled with another team for the majority of his career, he will be taken into consideration, but have a tough time overcoming a player who had a long, productive career in Philadelphia.

So, who are the greatest Phillies, position by position, of all time? Without further adieu, here are the greatest players to ever put on a Phillies’ uniform at their respective positions.

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I hate to look ahead and into the future, but it’s looking like the 2012 free agency period may be an important one for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Many of the main cogs of the franchise will be over to the age of 35 or close to it.  The window isn’t exactly opened all the way.

Not only do some of the Phillies prospects have to prosper down the line, Amaro is going to have to make some tough decisions.  Who does he want to re-sign or sign during this time frame.  Philadelphia’s farm system is ranked in the top five by the way.

I think there’s two focal points that Amaro will target, a power hitting right handed outfielder, and arms in the back of the bullpen.

Here’s ten guys I can see Amaro targeting after the 2011 season….

ALSO CHECK OUT

Power Ranking the Starting First Basemen

Power Ranking the Starting Second Basemen

Power Ranking the Starting Shortstops

Power Ranking the Starting Third Basemen

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Heading into the 2011 season, the Philadelphia Phillies are widely believed to be the favorite in the National League East, and maybe even the National League. 

However, to say that a team is without holes is unreasonable; in the case of the 2011 Phillies, there are indeed many questions that remain as they head to Clearwater to begin training.  On Friday, the Phillies packed up their trucks and sent the team’s gear down I-95 to Florida.

Here are the top 17 questions that remain going into Spring Training.

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The Philadelphia Phillies shocked the entire baseball world when they signed Cliff Lee last month to a $120 million contract. Ever since the fans in Philadelphia have been anxiously awaiting the start of the season. With the addition of Cliff Lee to their already-stellar rotation consisting of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels, the Phillies will be unstoppable and their opposition has the daunting task of facing two of the four aces every series.

Although the Phillies have seen the departure of fan favorite Jayson Werth, who signed a huge $126 million contract with division rival Washington, they have Domonic Brown and Ben Francisco to fill the void successfully. While the Phillies’ outfield has less depth with the departure of Werth, fans will be eager to see what Brown and Francisco can do.

The Phillies fans are ready to watch their team start the 2011 season and potentially make it to the World Series once again. After losing to the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS this past October, the Phillies have much to prove to themselves: one with their rotation, and two by avenging their NLCS loss.

Expectations could not be higher for the Phillies and I believe they will live up to them.

These are the reasons why 2011 will be a magical year to remember.

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Ryan Howard’s performances have dropped since 2008 and fans in Philadelphia are starting to become worried.  Howard however has some promising signs of why he can return to the MVP caliber level that he was at a few years ago.                                                                                                                                                                                     

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Since his debut in 2000, Jimmy Rollins has been the driving force for the Philadelphia Phillies both on and off the field. He’s the rare type of ball player that doesn’t come along all too often. He has been a vocal leader off the field, and has the talent on the field to back that up.

Though he had been one of the best shortstop’s in the game in years prior, Rollins catapulted himself into Phillies’ lore in 2007. Before playing a single game, he told the media, “The Mets had a chance to win the World Series last year [2006]. Last year is over. I think we’re the team to beat in the National League East, finally. But, that’s only on paper.”

Rollins and the Phillies quickly took care of that last part. In 2007, Rollins had the best season of his career, posting a slash line of .296 / .344 / .531, with 30 home runs and 41 stolen bases, on his way to narrowly being voted in as the National League MVP. The Phillies, of course, would stun the Mets in September before being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Following their elimination, Rollins predicted that the Phillies would win 100 games and go deeper into the playoffs the following season, and they haven’t looked back since.

After seeing the level of talent that their young shortstop possessed, and how hard it was to find an All-Star caliber short stop around the league, the Phillies quickly extended their young star. In June of 2005, the Phillies signed Rollins to a five year, $40 million extension.

Now 32, Rollins is entering the final year of that extension with the Phillies, and things aren’t looking all too great for the veteran shortstop. He has been plagued by injuries over the last few seasons, and as a result, his performance suffered. Combined with the current state of the Phillies’ payroll, and their options seem to be limited at the shortstop position moving forward. Surely, they wouldn’t want to commit to another injury plagued shortstop, like Jose Reyes, who would cost more annually than Rollins did.

Rollins, who is set to earn $8.5 million in the upcoming season, will likely set the bar. If he isn’t able to rebuild value for himself, it may be time for the Phillies and their prodigy shortstop to part ways. With that in mind, who could replace Rollins following the 2011 season?

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Jimmy Rollins hasn’t been the same player since his 2007 NL MVP year.  He’s struggled to stay on the field.  Before 2008, Rollins played in 154 plus games in each of his first seven seasons.  He’s missed the 154 game plateau in two of the last three years.  He played in 137 games in 2008, 155 in 2009, and 88 last season.   

The great thing for the Phillies is that this is Rollins’ contract year; money is motivation.  Rollins is 32, so this could be his final opportunity to get a multi-year offer. 

If he can stay on the field for 154-plus games, he will get paid.

Let’s take a look at ten contracts that Jimmy Rollins may be targeting….. 

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The Phillies have put together the best pitching rotation is all of baseball.  And yes, this does include Joe Blanton in the fifth spot.

With the signing of Cliff Lee in the offseason, Blanton was pushed to the back of the rotation and became the fifth starter.  This has added unbelievable value to Blanton and the Phillies. 

Blanton is just 30 years of age and has many seasons left in him if he stays healthy.  Out of 30 No. 5 starters last season, just five pitched more than 190 innings, and only Gio Gonzalez of the A’s and Livan Hernandez of the Nationals reached the 200 mark.  Blanton has pitched more than 190 innings in five of his six seasons in the Majors thus far.  Last season was the first time that Blanton did not reach this plateau, because he went on the disabled list for the first time in his career after straining an abdominal muscle late in spring training.

Since joining Philadelphia after the trade deadline in 2008, the Phillies have a .600 winning percentage in Blanton’s starts.  Blanton is 25-14 in his 72 starts with the team.  While Blanton’s number do not make him an outstanding pitcher, they do make him an outstanding fifth starter.

Ruben Amaro Jr. announced last week that moving Blanton is not a necessity anymore, as the team can afford to have all five pitchers on the roster this season.  However, even though they have the top four starters in baseball, there are still some unanswered questions with the lineup. 

Brad Lidge had an impressive finish to the 2010 season by compiling a 0.73 ERA over the last two months of the season, including four scoreless innings in the playoffs.  However, Lidge still is not anywhere near his 2008 perfect season. 

Another question mark is the platoon theory in right field between Ben Francisco, Ross Gload and eventually Dominic Brown.  The Phillies decided to not pursue free agents such as Andruw Jones, Manny Ramirez and Jose Guillen.  Using Blanton as trade bait could net the Phillies another solid outfielder who can play on an everyday basis or be used sparingly to give Ibanez, Francisco and Gload a day off every now and then.

Blanton is a very valuable player for the Phillies right now and a deal for him could be pursued by spring training.  If not, watch for Ruben Amaro Jr. to make a deal for him if a team suffers an injury to a top pitcher or to bolster the lineup at the trade deadline. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com