CHICAGO -- It was going to be fascinating. The Red Sox decision-makers admitted it. The agents for David Ortiz did the same.

The arbitration hearing for the Red Sox' designated hitter, scheduled to take place in February on the bottom floor of the Vinoy Hotel in St. Petersburg, Fla., was going to be one of a kind. It was the argument for a position vs. an argument for production. It was going to be perhaps the most complex debate in the history of the process. 

But, lo and behold, it never happened. Hours before representatives from both sides were to adjourn downstairs in the classic resort, Ortiz agreed to a one-year contract that would pay him $14.575 million.

Yet, at the end of the day, identifying what Ortiz would be paid was only a fraction of the day's takeaway. What the entire process really did was offer a hint of exactly how unique the player is.

It is a reminder that Ortiz continues to nudge the baseball world almost every day. 

"I was impressed," Ortiz said regarding the presentation compiled by his agent for the potential arbitration hearing. "I looked up what I've done through the years, but it's not like I'm sitting down to look at my numbers over my career. And my career has been pretty good throughout the years, and that's what they bring to the table in arbitration.

"Maybe [having a permanent designated hitter] is not a big deal for some teams, but it's like my agent told me at the time, not every team has a David Ortiz. So when it comes down to DH, that's the difference. You have a guy who is capable of hitting for power, hitting for average, getting RBI and on top of that all the other things I bring to the ball club, we're talking about not just a DH. You're talking about a player you definitely want to have on your ballclub."

Ortiz is right. He has managed to push the stigma that comes with being a full-time DH aside and found his own niche. It's one that perhaps no player will occupy again -- a player who doesn't play in the field but is actually worthy of being lumped among the highest-paid players in the game. Most recently, it was in the form of a road trip in which he led the Red Sox in OPS (.956) while hitting a pair of home runs to go along with a .308 batting average.

It is the kind of player we may never see again.

"I don't know. The way it looks like, maybe," Ortiz said when asked if he might be the last truly great designated hitter. "But when Edgar Martinez played that's probably the way people looked at it also, that he was going to be the last great DH. 

"I don't see myself as being one of the last ones because there are a lot of guys coming up who can hit, you don't have a position for them and if you give that guy a shot to hit and hit well, of course you're going to want to have them in your lineup. When I first came to the big leagues, I never saw myself doing what I'm doing right now, being a DH and just hitting. I got used to it because I had no choice at the time and I found a routine that helped me out to develop the numbers I developed throughout my career. But I didn't even know what a DH was until I got over here."

For starters, when analyzing exactly how unique Ortiz is in the game today understand that he is about to break a record that may never be broken again -- most plate appearances by a designated hitter. He enters Monday's game 361 behind the all-time leader, Harold Baines. The next active player on the list is Travis Hafner, who resides 2,288 behind Ortiz.

Ortiz was 27 years old when he first dipped his toes into the full-time DH waters, and has had an OPS of lower than .877 just once during those 10 years of manning the position. And, in case you haven't noticed, he is still marching along, carrying an 1.116 OPS and American League-best .403 batting average at the age of 36.

Kansas City's Billy Butler, who became a full-time DH at the age of 25 last season, might make a run, but that's a lot of years of needing to prove himself worthy pushing potential designated hitters aside.

Longevity at the position, however, doesn't paint he entire picture when identifying what we're seeing with Ortiz. There is also the aforementioned production.

Since June 4, 2010 -- right around the time Ortiz started breaking bad habits left over from his wrist injury -- until the present day, Ortiz has the seventh-best OPS in baseball (.936). Better than Troy Tulowitzki, Adrian Gonzalez, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Albert Pujols and Matt Kemp. And the only player in front of him who most likely won't make $20 million a year at some point in his career is Paul Konerko.

It shouldn't be that complicated: You take out a hitter like the one Ortiz has been (and, to this point, continues to be) out of your lineup, and there is a hole that is perhaps more difficult to fill than most any other spot in the batting order. Other than top-of-the-rotation pitchers, middle-of-the-order hitters might be the most difficult find in baseball.

That's why, in this new world of part-time designated hitters, Ortiz isn't so much a DH as he is an aberration.

And, of course, the ultimate example of how the 36-year-old may end up being viewed separately from his DHing counterparts is the suggestion that a spot may be waiting in the Hall of Fame. It won't be easy -- there isn't one designated hitter in Cooperstown. But it's not out of the question.

Right now, the prospects of such an induction might look slim considering the player considered the best designated hitter of all-time, Edgar Martinez, is still on the outside looking in, never garnering more than 36 percent of the vote in his three years of eligibility. But things change, including voters' mindsets along with the numbers for Ortiz with each game. 

It was a reality that was surfaced once again Thursday night when Ortiz tied Jim Rice and Frank Howard on the all-time home run list with 382. And when measuring up against the standard-bearer for designated hitters, Martinez, Ortiz resides just .020 points behind in OPS and 68 hits shy of the 16-year veteran.

"Why do people look at it so negatively?" Ortiz asked when the subject of the Hall of Fame accepting a designated hitter came up.

"I hate to talk about it because of the way people look at it. It's a position that didn't come out of my country. They created it for some reason. Every position has Hall of Famers, why doesn't this one, especially if you put up sick numbers? This is part of the game. The criticize me because I don't play in the field. They thought that up, it wasn't me."

Unique debates for a very unique player.