How does Delmon Young rank among AL East DHs?

The DH is an interesting position. For one, half the teams in the majors don't even employ one. Second, it's a position that requires no defensive capability. Sure, most teams seem to be moving away from using an everyday DH, but the value to a team still lies in hitting capability with playing in the field a secondary concern. Given this, I'd expect DHs that are employed to be really good at hitting and relatively inexpensive. Did any AL East teams value players that way? Of course it's not that simple, but keep some of that in mind as you read through about these five guys.

Another thing - is it weird the DH is actually a controversy? It's been 42 years since the American League adopted one. The fact that the National League hasn't come along yet is strange and it gets weirder every year. Of all the things baseball seems to be focusing on (pace of play, relevance of All-Star Games, Pete Rose) this seems like something that could be easily fixed, it would make the players union happy, the game would be more exciting, and most importantly - inter-league play (which has been increased lately for some reason) would be a lot less confusing.

Below you will see the player expected to be at DH more than any other for each team in the East. These are in no particular order, though I do discuss who I think will be the best below.

The stats you see underneath a player's name are his total statistics for 2013 and 2014 and ZiPS projections from Fangraphs that predict how he will perform in 2015.

While some teams are platooning at this position, or using players who can also play in the field, David Ortiz is full-time DH. He's become a staple of the franchise. He's the only remaining player from their 2004 World Series team, and I expect that to be true until the day he retires. As long as he continues to stay healthy, he appears on track to remain one of the best hitters in the division.

However, at age 39, there's no guarantee he will be able to play through the entire season. Avoiding play in the field obviously helps prevent injury, but there are no guarantees. Orioles fans wouldn't mind if he missed some playing time, since the Red Sox don't have much depth at this position. They do have a lot of outfielders who could put in some time, but I wouldn't expect any of them to put up Ortiz's numbers. His numbers were down some in 2014, and the projections for next year seem to indicate he may have more hits that don't go for home runs.

The Red Sox offense was not great last year, ranking below average in several offensive categories. While the team has addressed that in the offseason by signing guys like Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez, make no mistake about it - if the Red Sox are to be successful in 2015, they need David Ortiz to be the player they've come to expect.