Doing the math on Barry Zito

Just about the only thing more painful than watching Barry Zito give up eight hits and four runs a start is knowing how much money he's making doing it.

It's one of the strangest thing in sports: the highly paid starting pitcher. If healthy, he plays once every five days, and while incredibly valuable in the postseason, the best of the best help their team once a week. And rarely more than seven innings of the game.

And then there's Barry Zito who doesn't exactly "help" once per week and seems to do it in about five-inning stints. His $126 million, seven-year contract is both unfathomable and brilliant, of course depending from which perspective you look at it.

So let's breakdown Zito's salary, based on an average of 35 starts per season, six innings per start and 11 wins.

The numbers are humbling.

-$18 million per year
-About $515,000 per start
-Nearly $86,000 per inning
-About $1.6 million per win
-Almost $29,000 per out

That last number is the most upsetting. Zito makes more money per out than many people make per year.

He better not be getting that $600 tax rebate.