His contact with players has also been to involve them in the conversation and make clear anything from the team’s expectations to their roles. He’s prepared relievers to be used in different, less innings-specific ways, and he’s prepped a player like Jose Martinez to be ready for a bench role despite his potent hitting in 2018. Such transparency, Shildt said, “is not a one-way mirror,” and he’s urged whoever he’s talking with in staff meetings or private conversations to counterpunch because the team “has to be open to an opinion that doesn’t match our opinion.” Wong visited the suite Saturday and heard about Shildt’s plans for spring training, as did Chasen Shreve and others, and Shildt invited immediate feedback.

“Just to have that kind of communication going into it, that’s huge man,” Wong said. “At the end of the day, we’re all adults. And to get treated like it — for the manager to come at everybody and be like, ‘What do you think about this? What do you think about that?’ That’s how you build chemistry. That’s how you build a family.”

How it translates to the standings becomes the question.