When Manny Ramirez agreed to a one-year, $2 million deal with the Rays, it offered a few reminders.

First was that of the demise of Ramirez, who, in case you didn't know, hit one fastball for a home run in 2010. He also didn't manage to pull a single base-hit on a heater through the season's final two months -- admittedly, a period during which he says he was playing with a sports hernia that required offseason surgery.

Second? The devaluing of the designated hitter position.

The notion that teams simply didn't want to invest in the position had been widespread, with David Ortiz' $12.5 million deal for '11 serving as the perceived aberration. And when you had names such as Ramirez, Hideki Matsui ($4.25 million) and Jim Thome ($3 million) settling for bargain-basement deals -- with Vladimir Guerrero still waiting for a deal -- it did nothing to dispel the notion.

But is it the reality? It's something Ortiz, who will be eligible for free agency following the '11 season, will be waiting to find out.

When looking at this coming season's crop of designated hitters, a few jump out who suggest the salaries will take a dip. Michael Young ($16 million), Travis Hafner ($13 million), Milton Bradley ($12 million), and Jorge Posada ($13.1 million) are all products of long-term deals that have left teams with a hefty price tag at the position.

Then there was the fact that three of the top six designated hitters in terms of OPS in '10 (Vladimir Guerrero, Matsui, Johnny Damon) hit the free agent market, with none likely to come away with upwards of the $5.5 million, one-year deal scored by Guerrero in last year's free agent market.

The thought is that teams, more than ever, will start using the DH as a spot to rest older or injured players, while not taking a valuable bat out of the lineup. Of the 14 starting designated hitters heading into '11, there are six (Ortiz, Adam Dunn, Jim Thome, Ramirez, Hafner, Matsui) who project to play almost exclusively in the DH spot.

So, just how different has the approach changed -- both on and off the field -- since, say, '07? Not as much as you might think.

Let's start with the finances …

As of now, the starting designated hitters are committed to make an average of $9.15 million for '11 ($128.1 million total). In 2007, the average for a starting DH was $9.3 million ($130.5 million total). And it should be noted that Jason Giambi's $23.4 million salary in '07 severely altered the average.

While the free agents hitting the market as designated hitters would have seemed to come across hard times of late, there is a case to be made that little has changed. If you can hit, you are still going to be paid. Case in point: Dunn.

The situation of Dunn, who inked a four-year, $56 million with the White Sox to be their full-time designated hitter, compares favorably to Hafner's scenario. Back in '07, the Indians' DH was the same age as Dunn (30) when he agreed to a four-year $57 million extension.

And Dunn wasn't alone in getting the money to DH this offseason. While Victor Martinez and Billy Butler both have the ability to play other positions, the likelihood is by the time they reach the end of their new deals they will have had gotten more at-bats as a DH than any other position.

Then there are the on-the-field elements.

Like in '07, last season saw just one other American League position (first base) total more home runs than the DH spot. There were 308 home runs from designated hitters in '10, as opposed to the 325 four seasons prior.

In '07, six players hit 19 or more home runs while serving as a DH. In '10 the total was five.

(The homers, however, might have been somewhat deceiving. The designated hitters from last season managed just a .758 OPS, the lowest since '92. That said, offense around the majors as measured by runs scored was at its lowest level since ... '92.)

As for playing time, there hasn't been much change in consistency for designated hitters. Since 2000, there have been just five instances of a player serving as a DH 140 times or more, with Ortiz topping the list at 148 games in '05. As a comparison, every position but catcher has had at least a few players reach 161 games in a single season over the last decade, except DH.

Thanks to interleague play, the days of planning on 162 games of a designated hitter ended long ago. 

(It's a dynamic that certainly doesn't do anything for the financial leverage of those designated hitters limited to the one position.)

The lesson: Age and production, not position, is what is making and breaking these DH's earning power.

What does it mean for Ortiz? If he puts up numbers similar to what he's done the past few years, it will be age (36 at the start of '12), not production, that will be his biggest obstacle. But considering none of the recent full-time designated hitters have hit the open market riding a 30-something-home run season, there should be more hope for the Sox' slugger than Guerrero, Matsui, or Ramirez took into the offseason.

The guess is that Ortiz -- if remaining the hitter of recent years -- will land at somewhere around $8-9 million a season, with the potential of a multi-year deal. Teams that could be in the market for some sort of DH after '11 will be: Oakland, the Yankees, Seattle, Tampa Bay and, of course, the Red Sox.

While Ortiz in Yankee Stadium would offer a hefty amount of intrigue on multiple levels, the likelihood is that whether Posada re-signs or not, the Yanks will want some flexibility at the DH spot with Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter becoming less spry with each passing day.

It will be a player, and position, to keep an eye on.

Here are some of those who figure to be Ortiz' designated-hitting counterparts for the coming season (and what they are owed for '11):

Texas: Michael Young ($16 million)

Angels: Bobby Abreu ($9 million)

Oakland: Hideki Matsui ($4.25 million)

Toronto: Adam Lind ($5 million)

Cleveland: Travis Hafner ($13 million)

Seattle: Milton Bradley ($12 million)/Jack Cust

Baltimore: Luke Scott (approximately $6 million/waiting on arbitration)

Tampa Bay: Manny Ramirez ($2 million)

Kansas City: Billy Butler ($3 million)

Detroit: Victor Martinez ($12 million)

Minnesota: Jim Thome ($3 million)/Jason Kubel ($5.25 million)

White Sox: Adam Dunn ($12 million)

Yankees: Jorge Posada ($13.1 million)