PITTSBURGH -- For all but the first few months of his time with the Pirates, Derek Shelton has had to manage through unprecedented circumstances.

Shelton's first Spring Training as manager was shut down early due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the suspension of the season stretched into the summer. He had to navigate Pittsburgh through an unusual Summer Camp followed by a shortened schedule that featured new and adjusted rules on the field, not to mention constantly updated health and safety protocols off the field.

Now, after going 19-41 in his managerial debut, Shelton is in the midst of an offseason offering more questions than answers.

When will Spring Training begin? How will next season -- the schedule, the rules, the number of fans in ballparks and so on -- be affected by the distribution of a coronavirus vaccine? Will the economic impact of this past year slow down the offseason activity? What moves will general manager Ben Cherington make before Opening Day as he continues to overhaul the Pirates’ roster?

Managing isn’t always this complicated. But for Shelton, handling extraordinary uncertainty has been part of the job just as much as writing out lineups or making pitching changes.

"I kind of figured this is just how it is. You go in, you don't know,” Shelton said. “I think what [last season] taught me was: Don't really have anything etched in stone. … I don't like to live in speculation, and we live in a lot of speculation with the way the world is right now and how we're going. General frameworks are really good, and conversations are really good. The one thing it does do is it gives myself and the baseball ops group and the staff a ton of opportunities to talk through multiple scenarios, and then as we get closer, we get to put those in place."

Shelton spoke with the media via Zoom on Tuesday during his scheduled “virtual Winter Meetings” press conference, another unexpected change to the schedule this year. Here are some of the subjects he covered during the nearly 35-minute briefing.

Topic: Offseason activity and possible trades

Background: There’s little doubt that the Pirates are looking to move some of their veteran players this offseason to acquire prospects and add talent to their farm system. The front office’s focus is on the future, which means most of Shelton’s plans for the big league roster must remain fluid. Starter Joe Musgrove and second baseman Adam Frazier are the most likely trade candidates, and multiple clubs have been doing background work on starter Jameson Taillon. Others could be moved, too.

Shelton said he’ll manage potential trades like everything else this year: Prepare for one thing, then adapt and adjust to whatever happens.

Shelton: "I think the way most organizations approach it is you have to listen. When you have players that people feel are attractive or good players, then you have to listen. It would not be smart if we didn't, basically. So not giving away any trade secrets: People are going to call and ask about certain people. We are going to engage. But I think the thing that's going to happen is, if we do make trades, we will make them for the betterment of the Pirates moving forward. And how, not only it is going to affect this year's club, but as we continue to go.

“I think you saw that last year, we traded [Starling] Marte [to the D-backs for young prospects Liover Peguero and Brennan Malone]. Really good player. But spending time in instructional league and getting to see Peguero, that excites me. I spent 5-6 days being able to watch him play. So if it is a situation where we're making moves, it is going to be to make us better moving forward."

Topic: 2021 pitching plans

Background: Nobody seems sure what to expect from pitchers next year after their workloads were so significantly decreased this past season. That’s especially true for the Pirates, who will be leaning on a bunch of pitchers -- like Taillon and Mitch Keller, among others -- who missed even more time due to injuries. They can’t be expected to go from throwing a handful of innings this year to working more than 180 in 2021.

To plan for that challenge without being totally certain how many pitchers they’ll be able to carry, Shelton said the Pirates are proceeding as if “everything’s on the table.” Maybe they’ll experiment with openers, piggyback pitchers, a bunch of multi-inning relievers or something else. Right now, they don’t have enough information to create more specific plans.

Shelton: “I know there's a lot of teams that get creative with how they run their starters and how they run their bullpen and all those things. For the Pirates, it's first and foremost [about] health, because we're going to ramp up guys' innings double, sometimes 2.5 times more than they did the year before. Joe missed a significant amount of time last year. Mitch missed a significant amount of time. We have to be mindful not only for '21, but '22 and '23 and making sure those guys stay healthy.

“To say we have this figured out, I'm not gonna tell you we do. I will tell you that we are talking to a lot of different people about workloads, trying to find out the best way, but it's honestly going to happen on an individual basis with each guy and a ton of communication of how they feel and how they're moving going forward.”

Topic: Starting lineup and first base

Background: A lot could change between now and the Pirates’ first game, but Shelton felt comfortable penciling in a few players for next year. Yes, Ke’Bryan Hayes is going to play third base. Bryan Reynolds will play either left or center field, maybe both. Gregory Polanco is going to play right. Jacob Stallings is going to catch. Frazier is going to play second base and occasionally bounce out to left.

But there is going to be competition at shortstop among Erik González, Kevin Newman and Cole Tucker, and one of the outfield spots is available. And how will they handle first base with Josh Bell and Colin Moran if there’s not a designated hitter in the National League?

Shelton: "I mean, we have two really good bats there. That's going to be a challenge without the DH. We may have to get creative at times in terms of how we functionally use those guys. It's something that we've talked about a little bit. We'll probably talk about that with our group a little more once it's firmly solidified there's no DH, but as we get into Spring Training, if both guys are healthy, that's gonna [create] some conversations that you guys are probably going to ask me about on a daily basis."

Topic: Getting hitters back on track

Background: Maybe the most concerning development of the 2020 season for the Pirates was seeing players like Bell, Reynolds and Newman take big steps back at the plate. Those three seemingly established themselves as important hitters for the Bucs with an all-around excellent year under hitting coach Rick Eckstein in '19, only to essentially slump through the entire 60-game schedule this year.

Whether it’s for the Pirates’ future or the players’ trade value, helping those hitters has to be on the top of the to-do list for Shelton, Eckstein and assistant hitting coach Mike Rabelo in 2021.

Shelton: “Being a hitting coach is very hard. I know that firsthand, and when you have guys that struggle, it wears on you a little bit. And Rick went home, took a little time to reflect, we sat down and talked, and we have a clear plan of what we’re going to do with our group and how we’re going to go about it.

“Rick Eckstein’s a good hitting coach, and I think you guys saw that the year before I got here. He’s shown that previously. We had some guys that had difficult years last year. I think some of it had to do with [it being those players’] second or third year in the league. Some of it had to do with [how] they got off to tough starts and they didn’t feel like they had enough time to build it up. But I’m happy with the plan that we’ve created going into the offseason and look forward to Rick and Rabs executing it.”