C. Trent Rosecrans

crosecrans@enquirer.com

SAN DIEGO — At this point, Reds manager Bryan Price doesn't know what his lineup will look like on Opening Day — but he said he still knows he's months away from having to make that decision.

"I don't think it's my nature to get worked up about things that don't -- questions that don't need to be answered at this moment," Price said on Monday, the first day of Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings. "I mean, anybody would like to know what their team is going to look like right now, very few do, if any, know what their club is going to look like for next year. We have our challenges. So I think we're -- I'm comfortable with letting it kind of move along at the pace it's going."

That pace is slow thus far — and there's a giant whole in the lineup (literal, not figurative) in left field. With Jay Bruce in right field and Billy Hamilton in center, the outfielders on the team's 40-man roster as of Monday are Donald Lutz, Jason Bourgeois, Juan Duran, Yorman Rodriguez, Skip Schumaker and Kyle Waldrop. The team also signed Brennan Boesch to a minor-league deal.

None of the names on that list will help turn around an offense that scored the third-fewest runs in the National League. That player is still out there, be it in free agency (Nori Aoki, Michael Morse) or a trade (Yoenis Cespedis, Justin Upton). And then, of course, there's even debate if that one player can do it — as much as any influx of talent, the talent in place has to play up to expectations and paychecks.

For now, there's no name to fill in, and Price said he'll simply work with whatever general manager Walt Jocketty gives him in that spot. However, he does expect whoever the team adds to be a significant offensive contributor.

"Left field, we talked about offense by position, you're really looking at your corner outfielders, your corner infielders, are doing a lot of offensive damage," Price said. "Based on what that left fielder provides as far as offensive production, it doesn't necessarily have to be a ton of home runs, but it should be some extra base damage and some run-producing performance. And I think that's key if we're really looking strongly at being able to go out there and really compete in the division."

Other than an outstanding half-season from Ryan Ludwick in 2012, the Reds haven't had a consistent force in left field since trading Adam Dunn in 2008 — and he's now retired.

While a middle-of-the-order power bat like Cespedes is appealing, there's also the chance of a high-on-base-percentage top of the order piece like Aoki.

Both, of course, have advantages and disadvantages. But in his second year as manager, Price said he's not going to be as beholden to the players' wishes of where they'll bat in the lineup. Whoever is acquired will be in the order where the manager thinks is best for the team to win that day.

"I think, as we figured out over the course of last year, is that we're going to try to put the most functional team on the field and get away from getting concerned about hurt feelings if somebody is not hitting in a spot or order that they prefer," Price said. "So if we were a better club with somebody else leading off we would lead off with somebody else."

Price said he believes Billy Hamilton is best-suited, now, to be the team's leadoff man, and will be a leadoff man in the future. But Price wouldn't rule out the possibility of someone else batting first. That would seem to be a natural spot for Aoki, who has a career .353 on-base percentage and has never struck out more than 55 times in any of his three seasons in the big leagues.

Then there's the power route, which would most likely come via trade. If that happens, the former pitching coach knows that he may have to part with one of his starting pitchers to get that offensive help. At the same time, he said he knows that choice is coming anyway, as four of the team's projected starters are entering their last year before free agency.

In the wake of the Homer Bailey's $105-million contract, keeping the likes of Johnny Cueto, Mat Latos, Mike Leake or Alfredo Simon isn't going to be cheap. If Price is back in 2016, he knows it's unrealistic to expect those four starters to be in Cincinnati, too.

"These particular five starting pitchers, if we had them all long-term I'd be tickled to death. I think any manager would be. It's quality one through five," Price said. "Certainly health plays a big role in that. But we're not in that environment where we can pay these guys the terms of the contract that they've earned through their performance. And so we have to be able to make smart decisions and I think we're in a similar playing field with many teams, but there's other teams that have more ability to take on that type of a financial commitment. And we also have other parts of our team that we have to improve. We feel there's some pitching depth in our system that's going to be in the next year or so that's going to be able to help us."