SEATTLE -- After a very strange 2020, everyone has reasons to look ahead with hope to a New Year and new beginning in ’21. For the Mariners, that certainly holds true as well following a truncated developmental season that provided a few answers, but left many things unanswered.

As the club prepares to push forward again in its rebuilding process, here are five questions for 2021.

1. Is Kelenic ready to make a difference?

If you’re looking for a reason to get excited about the Mariners’ prospects for the coming season, look no further than their No. 1 prospect per MLB Pipeline, Jarred Kelenic. The 21-year-old outfielder likely will start the season at Triple-A Tacoma, but look for him to be an early addition to the Major League roster with the chance to develop alongside 2020 AL Rookie of the Year Award winner Kyle Lewis.

Kelenic was the key piece of the seven-player trade with the Mets that sent Robinson Canó and Edwin Díaz to New York two years ago, and he is eager to get his big league career underway. With an intriguing mix of power and speed, the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder from Wisconsin probably would have made his MLB debut last season, if not for the pandemic wiping out the Minor League season and slowing his development.

The ultra-confident Kelenic already looks and talks like a big leaguer. The question is how quickly can he adjust to Major League pitching, and can he live up to the hype as the most prominent figure in general manager Jerry Dipoto’s rebuilding efforts?

2. Who’s ready to pitch in?

In order for Seattle to take the big step forward and become a legitimate postseason contender, its pitching must improve on last year’s 5.03 ERA, the third-highest in team history and worst since the club moved out of the hitter-friendly Kingdome in 2000. The rotation seems relatively sound, particularly if No. 4 prospect Logan Gilbert steps into what is expected to be a six-man group. With Marco Gonzales coming off two strong seasons and Justus Sheffield opening eyes as a rookie last year, the Mariners are starting to piece together a decent rotation.

But they’ll need better from Yusei Kikuchi, as well as continued development from Justin Dunn, Nick Margevicius, the newly signed Chris Flexen and other youngsters in their system, before that picture is complete. The bigger uncertainty remains the bullpen, however, and that is where Dipoto is making the biggest changes.

The Mariners have already traded for Rangers closer Rafael Montero, landed free agent Keynan Middleton and re-signed Kendall Graveman to provide a trio of hard-throwing, late-inning options. A large group of veteran free agents remains on the market, and Dipoto will certainly add further to a group that also includes promising 2020 rookies Yohan Ramirez, Joey Gerber, and Anthony Misiewicz from a staff that had the highest bullpen ERA in the AL (5.92).

3. Will Haniger return to his old self?

Not all the Mariners’ outfield hopes rest on Lewis, Kelenic and fellow prospects Julio Y. Rodriguez and Taylor Trammell. Mitch Haniger, a 2018 All-Star, is expected to finally be healthy after a rough year and a half in which he had surgeries on a ruptured testicle, a torn adductor and a herniated disc. Haniger, who turned 30 on Dec. 23, hasn’t played a regular-season game since June 6, 2019.

But if Haniger is indeed ready to go by spring, as expected, he’ll slide back into the starting right-field role and provide a big boost -- as well as intriguing potential trade value -- if he looks like the guy who put up a .285/.366/.493 line with 26 homers and 93 RBIs and a 6.2 bWAR in 2018.

4. Can White’s bat support his Gold Glove?

When the Mariners gave Evan White a guaranteed six-year, $24 million deal that bought out all his arbitration years and provided three additional option seasons for another $33.5 million through 2028 -- before he’d ever played above the Double-A level -- they knew they had an excellent defensive first baseman with intriguing offensive potential. White certainly lived up to the first part of that equation, becoming the first rookie first baseman to win a Gold Glove Award since the award began in 1957.

But the 24-year-old still has much to prove at the plate, where he looked overmatched at times while posting a .176/.252/.346 line with eight homers and 26 RBIs in 54 games. The Mariners remain bullish on their 2017 first-round Draft pick’s bat, and he did show surprising power and some of the best exit velocity and hard-hit statistics on the team. But 84 strikeouts in 202 plate appearances raise a red flag, and the Kentucky native will need to improve on his contact rates and plate discipline in order to better balance his profile going forward.

5. Will this be Seager’s swan song?

On a team that has undergone near-complete turnover in the past few years, third baseman Kyle Seager stands as the lone holdover from when Dipoto took over in September 2015. Seager has been a steadying figure and often underrated veteran at the hot corner for nine and a half seasons in Seattle, and he ranks in the top four of the franchise leaders in hits, home runs and RBIs. The Mariners value his leadership on their young squad.

But Seager doesn’t seem to fit in the long-term plans for a team building for the future, given his seven-year, $100 million contract expires after this season. All the other veterans in similar situations have long since been shipped away for younger help, but Seager’s $15 million team option for 2022 turns into a guaranteed player option if he’s traded, and that has limited trade possibilities.

Whether that changes now that the 33-year-old is in the final stages of that deal remains to be seen, but Dipoto already has acquired a potential replacement in Ty France. The 26-year-old France figures to fill the designated hitter role for now, but the clock seemingly is ticking louder on Seager’s time in Seattle.