Health: Plans for El Duque, Maine and Beltran
Yesterday at Shea Stadium, Orlando Hernandez told reporters that he will have surgery in the next few weeks to repair the tendon in his foot, which forced him to miss much of September.
El Duque has one year and $6 million left on his contract.
…i have no problem with el duque coming back, especially 
at that cost…however, at no point next season can he be considered the team’s best pitcher…if he returns as a fifth starter, occasionally reliever, all under the notion that he will certainly miss a chunk of the season, maybe even the playoffs, fine…
Meanwhile, John Maine told reporters that he may need surgery on his hip, which, according to an MRI, had plagued him through much of the season.
Lastly, according to the Daily News, Omar Minaya announced that Carlos Beltran may need to ‘address’ the knee injuries he suffered towards the end of the season.
…i know beltran works hard, in season and off, but i believe his workout regimen needs to be reconsidered, because the guy is always playing in pain, more so than most players it seems…he gets knocked by some fans for being soft, which is actually the opposite of reality…instead, he plays through pain, and only hits the disabled list when it is unbearable…the problem is not that he’s ‘soft,’ whatever that means, the problem is that every time i look up he’s playing with a sore knee, or quad, or oblique, and he’s too integral to this team’s offense to constantly be running that risk with…so, while addressing his knee, maybe the team should also address his overall health…
