According to Adam Rubin, if either of these pitchers were to come to the Mets, Omar Minaya said they would definitely appear in the pitching rotation.
From the Daily News:
"You have to consider that. If a guy is a starter and has relieved in the past, you think about that," Minaya said. "But I couldn't tell you that we're looking at guys right now that are starters and are saying to ourselves, 'Let's get him as a reliever.' We're looking at him at him as a starter."Both players would probably want front-line money, so using them for only one inning would be silly. (Not that the asking prices for Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Fuentes are anything to laugh at.)
Dempster has had a strange career. He threw 140 more innings in 2008 than he did in 2007. Something like that cannot be good. Before last season, the last time he threw over 200 innings was back in '02. In that span, he registered 85 saves for the Chicago Cubs, never breaking the 100 inning mark.
Both would be something to look at, and could fill in nicely as a 4th started the Mets so desperately need.