What to do with El Duque

Jon Heyman of SI reports that the Mets were quietly shopping Orlando Hernandez this off-season, when they couldn't find a taker they ended up stuck with him. I'm not sure why, but in a camp full of optimism and determination El Duque seems to be the one disgruntled player. Whether he was insulted be all the pen rumors, maybe that his brother wasn't signed or he actually heard that he was on the block, El Duque seems like the unhappy odd man out. The big question will be what to do with him; he is classically slow to warm-up so sending him to the pen would be difficult, he won't remain healthy in the rotation and Pelfey is probably better at this point, but the Mets aren't the type of team to eat contracts. Maybe they'll place him on the DL and see how Pelfrey does over a couple starts, then decide whether to cut him or not.....

The Mets quietly sought trade offers for Orlando Hernandez late this winter, with the idea that if anyone bit, they would sign Lohse. But apparently there were no takers. source SI