Disabled List welcomes Mike Hampton back

It might be time for Mike Hampton to sit back, relax, and stop trying to earn his $15,000,000 salary. Or if that's important to him, perhaps Atlanta pitching coach Roger McDowell could use an assistant.

Because if the last five years are any evidence, the marriage between Hampton and pitching is on the rocks, and it's starting to show signs of irreconcilable differences. Before attempting to take the mound for the first time in nearly three years, Hampton was once again sidelined by injury Thursday.

This time it was Hampton's left pectoral, tweaked when Hampton warmed up for a start against the Pirates. When the pain didn't subside, he handed the ball to McDowell and called it quits. On the brighter side, Braves' manager Bobby Cox called Hampton's 23 warmup pitches "excellent."

Since 2003, the left-handed pitcher has had aches and pains in more places than the captain of the balloon volleyball team at the local convalescent center. In that five year time period, Hampton has had a strained calf muscle, Tommy John surgery, a torn oblique muscle, and a strained hamstring. Or, as Jeff Schultz at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, "Mike Hampton isn’t an injured pitcher anymore. He’s a wrenched ankle away from being the poor schlep on the Operation game."

Hampton has been placed on the 15-day DL, and Braves' trainiers said the injury was minor. They may be right, and Hampton may rebound with a great comeback season. But my hunch is this may spiral into the end of a long and injury-riddled career.

Hampton's $121 million contract -- the 23rd largest in all of sports, according to Wikipedia -- is up after this season, and it's hard to imagine teams venturing anywhere near him. Because whatever it is he has, they sure as heck don't want to catch.