FORT MYERS — Forget about service time. Forget about seasoning. Forget about the long-term view, caution, taking the safe path. If the Red Sox are serious about winning in 2013, Jackie Bradley Jr. will be in their lineup on Opening Day.

With all due respect to Mike Carp, Lyle Overbay, Ryan Sweeney and all of the other possible replacements for David Ortiz, none of them is the most exciting Red Sox prospect since Jacoby Ellsbury.

That distinction belongs to Bradley, and where he starts the year will tell us all we need to know about how interested the Red Sox are in winning now.

The case for Bradley is simple: He’s been the best player in camp since the day he arrived. After going 3-for-4 with a homer on Monday and adding another hit in his lone at-bat yesterday, he finds himself hitting .536 (15-for-28). Add flawless outfield defense, the fact that he’s homegrown, and the lack of compelling alternatives, and this decision should be a slam dunk.

And yet it’s not. The Red Sox continually suggest Bradley will open the season at Triple-A Pawtucket. They remind us he has yet to play above Double A. They want him to play every day. Were they so inclined, they could cite the success of Will Middlebrooks, who clearly benefited from his month in Triple A. And of course, left unsaid is that any delay in Bradley’s arrival could mean the difference between reaching free agency in six years or seven.

Listen to the myriad reasons why Bradley shouldn’t make the team, and it’s easy to convince yourself that one of them makes sense. But all they do is confuse the issue.

He belongs on this team, and not as the 25th man on the roster, but one of the starting nine.

Remember when the Red Sox signed Carl Crawford? They believed a mobile left fielder could dominate Fenway Park, playing a little shallower to steal line drives and also offering coverage in the left-center gap next to Ellsbury.

Didn’t we just describe Bradley? He probably possesses even better defensive skills than Crawford, and he definitely has a better arm. If he can play center, he can play left. Along with right fielder Shane Victorino and Ellsbury, Bradley would give the Sox the best defensive outfield in baseball.

That’s not an insignificant consideration, particularly since Bradley offers a defensive upgrade over current left fielder Jonny Gomes, whose powerful right-handed stroke could still help the lineup at DH in the absence of Ortiz.

OK, but what about starting his free agency clock? Limit his service time now and he can still have an impact on the 2013 season without gaining a year toward free agency. Keep him under team control through 2019 instead of 2018.

Flip it around. If Bradley runs with his chance, you’ve got yourself a legit big leaguer who helps you win immediately. If he doesn’t, you demote him to Pawtucket and delay his clock in May or June instead of April.

The clock watchers will argue, “What difference do three weeks in April make?” And to them we’d say: Does the name Mike Trout ring a bell?

No one’s about to put Bradley on the level of the American League Rookie of the Year and near MVP, but in retrospect, would the Angels keep Trout in the minors to open 2012? Nope. It probably cost them the playoffs. In an AL East that projects to be as close as ever, why mess around with a potential impact player?

Too much decision-making over the last couple of years on Yawkey Way has been marked by caution. The Red Sox failed to blow up their team when they had the chance in the winter of 2011, and it led to a lost season. They played it safe with veteran manager Bobby Valentine, or at least they thought they did, though that decision fire-balled on them spectacularly.

General manager Ben Cherington’s approach has shifted over the last few months, however. In one August trade with the Dodgers, he altered the next decade of the franchise. This winter, he struck early and often at his prime free agent targets. Criticism over not signing a potential time bomb like Josh Hamilton remains idiotic.

Throughout it all, he has maintained that the goal is to win now. Well, here’s his chance to prove it.

Put Jackie Bradley on this team.