Mike Hampton made 21 starts for the Astros in 2009. That's not a whole lot, but it's only four fewer than he made for the Braves between 2005 and 2008 so it's probably as much as the Astros could've reasonably expected from the veteran when they signed him in the offseason. No one should be expecting any starts from Hampton in 2010, though, because when Hampton had surgery to repair a shoulder problem today, doctors found a completely torn rotator cuff and a partially torn labrum. Neither of those things are good on their own, and together they mean that Hampton will probably miss all of next year. Given his health history, it seems possible that it means his big-league career is over.
In those 21 starts he did make for the Astros this year, Hampton went 7-10 with a 5.30 ERA. Things weren't all bad, though. His strikeout rate (5.9 per nine innings) was his best since his 2000 season with the Mets and given how sparingly he's pitched in the four years before this one, he at least seemed to be on the right track. On the other hand, four of his seven wins came in starts against the Pirates. In those four starts, he recorded 19 of his 74 strikeouts (about a quarter of his season total) and only allowed three earned runs in 27 innings. Which is to say he was much worse against just about everyone else.
It's obviously too early to know how Hampton's rehab will go or what he'll choose to do when or if he gets healthy, but it's hard to imagine him trying to come back at the age of 38 from a serious shoulder injury. He didn't pitch at all in 2006 or 2007 and he's struggled both this year and last year on the few occasions he has pitched.
In any case, Hampton's a free agent after this season ends, so at the very least the Astros don't lose anything beside a handful of starts in a lost season. And Hampton adds another injury to his illustrious list of them, ensuring that his legacy won't be anything that he did on the field, but rather how much time he spent off of it.
