There's not going to be a honeymoon period for Gabe Kapler, that much was clear on the day he was introduced as Giants manager.

Every move Kapler makes will be scrutinized, and as he works his way through pitching changes and pinch-hit decisions, he'll do so while becoming familiar with a new set of rules.

MLB sent a memo to clubs last week summarizing changes for 2020, but teams have long known the outline, and the Giants have kept the new rules in mind as they've worked to rebuild their roster. While Kapler deals with the new rules on a daily basis for nine innings, Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris will do the same as the contemplate roster moves.

"It'll be a challenge for us," Harris said recently. "I think overall it's good for the game and I'm glad they're doing it."

Harris, hired as GM last month, said most of the conversations have revolved around the pitching challenges. Rosters will expand from 25 to 26 players but there's a maximum of 13 pitchers and relief pitchers must now face three consecutive batters or pitch through the end of an inning (fun fact: intentional walks count toward the three-batter minimum but picking off a runner does not). Harris said the rule change will "limit your ability to optimize matchups."

"I know Boch used to do this a lot, Joe (Maddon) used to do this a lot, but in the highest-leverage moments, you can optimize matchups by going right-left-right to make sure that you find the right pitcher for each pinch-hitter," Harris said. "We won't be able to do that anymore, so I think it does impact our evaluation of pitchers. I think we have to look at less specialized relievers when we're building our roster. We have to look at more versatile arms."

The Giants haven't signed any relievers to big league deals yet, which could leave some incumbents in good spots. The new rules should be especially helpful to guys who were recently starters and have the weapons to get lefties and righties out. Some incumbent relievers may also look even better under a new lens. Tyler Rogers, for instance, dominated lefties and righties in a September cameo. Jandel Gustave and Sam Coonrod both held righties under a .600 OPS but also fared well enough against lefties that they shouldn't have any issue facing three batters.

While the Giants worry about their big league bullpen, they'll also be changing the way they teach some minor leaguers. You can no longer expect to advance by being a specialist.

"It becomes more valuable if you can teach, say, a right-handed pitcher to go through a left-handed batter or two," Kapler said. "If that means developing a cutter or being more aggressive with the location of a pitch up-and-in, being careful about pitching to a specific hitter or two. That also presents some interesting development challenges and opportunities and then also some interesting strategic decisions."

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For Kapler, it could also present an opportunity as he tries to help the Giants figure out a way to score more runs, particularly at home. They'll have an extra roster spot to play with, which could make it easier to make up some of the offensive deficit by using platoons, particularly in the outfield. Alex Dickerson is one obvious candidate as someone who crushes righties but could use a platoon partner to come in against lefties. The Giants also plan to increase the versatility of some players -- most notably Mauricio Dubon, who should start playing some outfield -- to give Kapler more options late in games.

"I do think there's a huge opportunity for Gabe here," Harris said. "I think he's a gifted strategist in the dugout and I think the limits on pitching will enable him to find favorable matchups at the plate with pinch-hitters. If a reliever is in the middle of his three-batter minimum, perhaps we can make the right pinch-hitting decision to create a favorable matchup and increase our run-scoring through strategy.

"We're actively talking about that all the time. It's definitely going to impact how we build the team and how we deploy arms, but we're excited for the challenge and we think overall it's good for the game."