And its misleading to hold up David Ortiz as the example DH. National League teams looking for a DH in an expansion of the role would be lucky to get even a David DeJesus. It might be years before they find an era-defining player like Big Papi.

Further, the use of the DH is changing precisely because there are so few Big Papis. The Yankees have been using the DH as a way of rotating veteran players into a half-rested day. Looked at this way, the DH is extending the careers of past-their-prime veterans. And it deludes American League teams into making foolishly long contracts with aging sluggers, because it gives them a plausible story about how they will get value out of a player who is likely to lose mobility before his exorbitant contract is up. So much for rationalism.

In truth, few careers are meaningfully extended by the DH precisely because in most cases the loss of athleticism at a defensive position will run parallel to losses in reflexes, bat speed, and power. For every Edgar Martinez and David Ortiz there are many more Carlos Beltrans. Beltran is batting .159 so far this year and .233 last year. So yes, in fact, I would rather see Bartolo Colon at bat than Beltran now. Colon’s comical and awkward at-bats are adding to his legendary status, while Beltran is detracting from his own, even if he finishes with a higher batting average than Colon at season’s end.