"Aubrey Huff might have been the wrong man at the wrong time, but he had the right perspective on his assignment as the Rays' designated hitter.

"Best job in the world," Huff said, and often. "Sit around and hit four times."

But for the better part of the Rays' 13-season existence, there has been a lot more designating than hitting.

They've tried 102 of them, from Abernathy (Brent, who was 1-for-1 his lone shot) to Zobrist (Ben, who was 4-for-8 in three games). And, aside from Jose Canseco's 31-homer first half of 1999, few have done very well.

Going by the simple measure of OPS — on-base percentage plus slugging percentage — Rays DHs have been the least productive in baseball since the team started play in 1998, with a .750 OPS that is nearly 50 points below the league average.

The kick is that the job seems to be attractive: good pay (an average salary of $7.5 million in 2010, third highest of position), decent hours, light duty, cool benefits.

"DH-ing is easy for me," new Ray Johnny Damon said. "You can almost take it as a day off."

So why have the Rays had such a hard time finding the right man to fill it?

"I can't answer that question," Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman said. "You would think that it would be the most fungible position, but we've just really struggled with it.

"I think part of it is that for a smaller revenue team, it's even more difficult because on average it's among the highest-paid positions in baseball. So that automatically puts us at a competitive disadvantage. We've tried to get creative to fill it, and we haven't done very well the past couple years."

Going back to their beginnings, creative might be a kind word.

The Rays have tried all kinds, from the big lugs such as Paul Sorrento and Bubba Trammell, to the big names such as Greg Vaughn and Fred McGriff, to the big busts, where Pat Burrell stands alone. They've tried bit players, young up-and-comers and several on the way out."