Mike Hampton is going to get paid.

If you’re like me, you might have heard the news that Braves’ SP Mike Hampton was going to miss all of this season with an elbow injury after missing all last season with an elbow injury, and thought, he might just want to call it a career.

But Hampton is no quitter. He plans to keep on playing. Or, failing that, to keep on getting paid millions of dollars to rehabilitate his arm. From the AJC:

Lest there be any question of his comeback intentions, veteran Mike Hampton has let it be known through Braves medical staff that he intends to pitch in 2008.

“Oh, [heck] yeah,” Cox said. “He wants to pitch winter ball. He’s planning on it.”

The left-hander will be out all season after surgery Tuesday to repair a torn flexor tendon in his pitching elbow. Ligament-transplant elbow surgery kept him out for the entire 2006 season.

There’ s really no mystery behind why Hampton doesn’t want to retire. He’s due to make $15 million in 2008, the last year of the eight-year, $121 million contract he signed with Colorado. Fortunately for the Braves Rockies, insurance will pay some of Hampton’s $14.5 million 2007 salary, though we don’t know how much.

I mean, let’s be honest: if there’s $15 million sitting on the table, and all you have to do is try to pitch, you’re going to try to pitch.