The Caracas Lions and La Guaira Sharks decided to take a break from their Venezuelan Winter League game to recreate the “Anchorman” brawl (with an assist from some object-chucking fans).
Nada como un Caracas~La Guaira. pic.twitter.com/xkVkMGMUq8
— Emilio Materán (@EmilioMateran) November 7, 2022
The impetus for the brawl is unclear. The Lions are wearing the black uniforms, so their guy gets the blame (credit?) for igniting the fuse. But everyone did their part after that.
Anyway, MLB.com has both teams’ rosters listed online. The Mets and Yankees have three minor leaguers playing for the Lions between them, all pitchers. Joshua Cornielly and Jesus Vargas for the Mets and Jose Mujica for the Yankees. Cornielly spent this past season in A-ball while Mujica and Vargas pitched in Triple-A. Hopefully they did not get hurt. Or arrested.
While you’re here, ESNY’s Matt Musico has a good look at why Justin Verlander makes more sense for the Yankees than the Mets if he hits free agency after winning another World Series with the Astros:
Such is life with New York baseball, the Mets and Yankees will likely be interested in the hurler again. After all, both squads could use another starter in their respective rotations. The Mets have much more room than the Yankees do. And, if Jacob deGrom decides to sign elsewhere this winter, the Amazins could be motivated to get Max Scherzer a fellow co-ace again.
It’d be awesome, but I don’t think it makes much sense for the Mets. DeGrom’s asking price will probably be at least $40 million per year. Based on some early free-agent predictions, Verlander will command about the same.
The righty has shown no signs of slowing down, but could the Mets be wary of installing a soon-to-be 40-year-old pitcher at the top of their rotation with Scherzer? It was fun to watch for most of 2022, but we saw how the rotation let New York down in the final stretch. Verlander has also dealt with some postseason struggles of his own. He’s posted an ERA north of 4.00 in each of his last three trips. This includes a 5.85 ERA in 20 innings this past October.
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• Can Kenny Golladay be Giants’ big stretch run addition?
• It’s time for Yankees to trade Gleyber Torres
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com
