By this time of year, Pirates fans expected to have at least a small idea of how first-year manager Derek Shelton ran things.
With no games, though, that hasn't been possible.
Luckily, for those interested, Shelton discussed some of his own personal thoughts on baseball strategy in a radio appearance Wednesday with Post-Gazette columnists Ron Cook and Joe Starkey on their 93.7 The Fan radio show, giving a small preview of what fans might expect when certain situations arise once play resumes.
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Shelton talked a lot about dealing with his pitchers. More specifically, he was asked about how much he will rely on statistics such as a starter's aptitude the third time through an opposing lineup versus how the pitcher actually looks that day.
Understandably, Shelton implied that decisions like that will be made on a case-by-case basis.
"I think there's a couple components that come into that," Shelton said. "No. 1, what he's previously done. Is he on five days rest? Is he on four days rest? What's his next start look like? Who's the next opponent?
"The other thing that could come into play is where he's hitting in that inning, especially with the new three-batter rule. We may put a guy in a situation where he throws maybe to two hitters that third time through or goes through a certain part of the order the third time through, because we're trying to get a better matchup for our relievers. We're trying to get maybe just two outs out of our relievers or two hitters out of our relievers. So I think we'll play on both sides of that."
Shelton tied his discussion on starting pitching into a larger point from earlier in the interview on load management. He's a firm believer in keeping tabs on players' output in relation to how many games they've played recently or in an entire season. He used a hypothetical, saying that if a guy plays better with just 145 games than he would playing 160 games, then it's in everybody's best interest to make sure that player gets his needed rest.
That does not, however, rule out spot duties such as pinch hitting.
