Cincinnati

There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?

Robert F. Kennedy

GOODYEAR, AZ – Bryan Price isn’t Bobby Kennedy and baseball isn’t politics, but there’s never anything wrong with having an open mind. The Reds very likely won’t win the World Series in 2017, which is a very good thing in one way and one way only:

It gives them lots of latitude to ask, “Why not?’’

Experiment. Try things. It’s not a matter of exiting the proverbial box. It’s about not having a box at all. If you’re likely to lose between 90 and 100 times, at least make it interesting. The laboratory is open, Dr. Frankenstein. Feel free to play with the test tubes.

Price already has said he will split with orthodoxy and mix and match his late-inning relievers. His best guys will get the toughest situations. This has made sense forever, but hasn’t been done much since the 1980s. The almighty save has overridden common sense to the extent that Aroldis Chapman was only used here to start the 9th inning of games in which the Reds could be leading by as many as three runs.

That’s stupid. And changing.

Why shouldn’t teams think creatively with starting pitchers, too? Only top of the rotation guys should be allowed to pitch more than five or six innings, regardless of how they’re doing. Don’t allow the others to pitch into big trouble. Don’t allow opposing hitters to see them more than twice, or to get better swings because the pitcher is tiring. Be proactive with the back of the rotation, same as you would the back of the bullpen.

Analytics already are stretching the hide-bound boundaries of baseball thinking. Numbers have validated calculated risk-taking. Bunting is going out of style, hyper-shifting is taking away base hits.

Example, again: Why not make optimum use of Billy Hamilton’s range in centerfield? Teams can chart every ball in play. They know where every opponent is most likely to hit the ball. Why not position the corner outfielders to the extreme?

Left fielder Adam Duvall has played first base and third base. If a non-power hitter comes up who is prone to hitting grounders and line drives to left, is it crazy to suggest Duvall play just behind shortstop, while positioning Hamilton in left-centerfield?

Maybe. Probably. Or maybe it works. Base hits become outs. Maybe Duvall fields a groundball and gets a force at second or third.

Conversely, if the Reds have a left-handed pull hitter up, a runner on 2nd base and the other team’s 3rd baseman is shifted to the shortstop hole, shouldn’t any fast Reds runner on 2nd always try to steal 3rd base? If the Reds have runners at 1st and 2nd in that situation, shouldn’t they always force the catcher to throw through to 2nd base?

Shouldn’t the Reds hit Hamilton and Jose Peraza 1-2, to make best use of their speed? Some teams are straying from the conventional thinking of batting a good contact hitter 2nd, and simply getting their best hitters more at-bats. Peraza was one of the Reds best last year.

And so on. The point isn’t anarchy. The point is creativity and a willingness to accept some failure when things don’t always work. That’s progress, and what better year for the Reds to try it than this year? What’s the worst that could happen? Another loss?

It can’t be chaos, obviously. Any move has to be made understanding these are people, not Strat-o-Matic cards. Price doesn’t want to limit a young player or dent his confidence because the numbers say the kid can’t do certain things. “I don’t believe great players become great because the manager decreases their opportunity,’’ Price said.

Price is willing to juggle his relievers, but not to an extreme. “I don’t think from a depth perspective a bullpen would survive that, long term,’’ he said. He has hit Hamilton and Peraza 1-2 this spring, but wonders if Zack Cozart might be a better alternative behind Hamilton.

“Are we better breaking it up or having them 1-2 and going for the throat in the 1st inning?’’ Price wondered.

“The number one thing to maximize your lineup is bunch your good hitters together,’’ said Sam Grossman, the Reds analytics chief.

All points to debate. What shouldn’t be debated is the Reds willingness to combine conventional wisdom with the revolutionary kind. Why Not? is the question of the ’17 season.