PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- The Rays have experienced some unusual training camps over the last few years. In 2018, they navigated through surprising Spring Training trades that shipped out a couple of popular veterans and reshaped their roster on the fly. Two years ago, every team had to handle the health-and-safety protocols and logistical challenges associated with the shortened Summer Camp.

• Revised Spring Training schedule

The next month could combine the two for Tampa Bay, with a flurry of transactional activity set to take place amid an abbreviated ramp-up to the start of the regular season.

Welcome to a Spring Training unlike any other.

“It’s going to be quite the push,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said Friday on his way to the club’s Spring Training complex at Charlotte Sports Park. “There will be a lot of moving parts going on. We’re going to have to show a lot of adjustability, which we feel we’re good at.”

For Cash and the rest of the Rays’ coaching staff, getting back together as a group will be a welcome return to normalcy.

• Rays 2022 offseason reset

While MLB and the MLBPA negotiated a new Collective Bargaining Agreement during the lockout, club officials and coaches weren’t allowed to communicate at all with players. That meant three months of radio silence -- no offseason training updates, no overseeing injured players’ rehabilitation work, no casual conversations. So when the new CBA was ratified and the lockout was lifted on Thursday night, everyone was working the phones to check in and get back on the same page.

“I felt like we picked up right where we left off,” Cash said. “And that just speaks to the quality and character of our club, that we’re so fortunate to have just good guys. Everybody was excited to get going. The feedback was super positive. Now it’s kind of a mad dash to get to Port Charlotte and get going.”

• 5 Questions facing the Rays

There were some funny interactions, like rehabbing ace Tyler Glasnow asking Cash if he can sleep at the Rays’ spring ballpark because he’s had trouble finding a place to stay in the area. But they have a lot of more important catching up to do before and after Sunday’s report date for the start of Spring Training.

For one, the Rays want to get as much information as possible about their injured and rehabbing players. Cash said he’d heard “good reports” about Jalen Beeks and Colin Poche (both throwing bullpens), Jeffrey Springs, Ryan Thompson and Yonny Chirinos, as well as two pitchers still working their way back from long-term injuries: Glasnow and Nick Anderson.

Additionally, Tampa Bay will have to be mindful of pitchers’ workloads as they prepare for the season. Rather than rushing their young arms through an accelerated progression to get ready for Opening Day, the Rays are approaching the start of Spring Training with the full 162-game season -- and now an expanded postseason -- in mind.

“Our pitching drives everything,” Cash said. “As concerned as we are coming in at a normal spring, at a normal pace and [with] normal communication throughout the offseason, it’s just that much more magnified. We’re going to make sure that we have a long view and recognize that Spring Training is not meant to be a sprint. Just because it’s shorter, it’s not going to be a sprint this time.”

Here’s where it gets even more complicated: The Rays’ focus will extend beyond just the players in their camp in the coming days. Clubs will be rushing to finish putting together their rosters after a three-month freeze on transactions, likely leading to a frantic stretch of free agent signings and trades comparable to what took place in the days before the lockout.

The Rays should be active. They’re looking for a right-handed hitter, ideally one who can play first base, and they’re expected to pursue additional pitching depth. They discussed trades involving longtime center fielder Kevin Kiermaier before the lockout, which could lead to a trade in the early days of camp -- unless they decide to deal another outfielder, like Austin Meadows or Manuel Margot. They’ll also have to handle a huge class of arbitration-eligible players by reaching agreements or going to hearings in two weeks.

And there will be other new wrinkles. The Rays’ Spring Training game schedule was reworked on Friday, putting Grapefruit League teams in position to play a more geographically based schedule. Non-roster players who were invited to big league camp, like returning reliever Chris Mazza, have already been working out here in Minor League Spring Training; they’ll just move to the big league clubhouse. But some younger prospects who might have received non-roster invites to Spring Training in a normal year will remain in Minor League camp, only coming over to play in games.

How tough will it be to manage that crush of offseason-type activity and the responsibilities of a condensed Spring Training, all at once? Suffice it to say, Cash doesn’t envy president of baseball operations Erik Neander or general manager Peter Bendix right now.

“That’s why it’s good to be a manager and not a general manager or a president,” Cash said. “If something presents itself, we trust that Erik and Pete are really going to do their best to help us and also convey the best messages to our players internally and [to] the players that potentially will be coming in.”

But after waiting for baseball to return throughout this extended offseason, which Cash called “challenging emotionally” and “mentally taxing,” the Rays are eager for whatever this unprecedented spring may bring.

“That three-month lack of interaction has been taxing certainly on our staff, myself and I would imagine the players. You’d like to think that they appreciate that, and we’ve missed that. So a lot of catching up. Just when they walk through the door will be exciting.”