The first-ever Dominican Winter League Series kicks off tonight with the two winningest teams in LIDOM history, Los Tigres del Licey and Las guilas Cibaeas. <\/p>\n
The game will feature many current and former major leaguers and a few former New York Mets, including one member of the 2015 National League Champion squad. <\/p>\n
Las guilas Cibaeas released their official roster for the Titans of the Caribbean series on Wednesday, headlined (at least for Mets fans) by 2014 NL Gold Glove winner Juan Lagares. A Met for parts of eight seasons, Lagares played 366 career games at Citi Field and is now back for three more. <\/p>\n
Most remembered for his outstanding glove in center field, Lagares was among the best fielders the Mets have ever had. His 2013 and 2014 seasons are two of the top three in Mets history regarding defensive WAR, only trailing Rey Ordezs 1999, and Lagares is the only player to have three of the top 20. Hes also one of only three outfielders in MLB history to have multiple seasons of at least three dWAR, joining Kevin Kiermaier and Andruw Jones. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Lagares joined Jay Horwitz on Amazin Conversations with Jay Horwitz to discuss his career and the upcoming series and said he cant wait for that day. <\/p>\n
Jonathan Villar, who had a productive season in Queens in 2021, is another former Met on the roster. In 142 games, Villar hit .249\/.322\/.416 with 18 home runs as he wound up the teams primary third baseman. Daniel Palka, who has played in Triple-A for the Mets each of the past two seasons, is also there. Palka played 154 games for the White Sox between 2018 and 2019 and hit 29 home runs. <\/p>\n
Former Met Melky Cabrera is on the coaching staff, and current Mets roving infield instructor Luis Rivera is also. <\/p>\n
Other notable players on Las guilas Cibaeas roster for this series are Christopher Morel, Starlin Castro, Elehuris Montero, and Dinelson Lamet. <\/p>\n
Los Tigres del Licey have not released their official roster for the series as of Thursday night. However, some notable former major leaguers have played for them this season, including former Mets Hansel Robles and Adonis Medina. They also have Nabil Crismatt, a former Mets minor leaguer with several solid years for the Padres pitching staff. <\/p>\n
Robles pitched in over 400 games in his MLB career, 187 of which were for the Mets. He had a good first two seasons, putting up a 3.55 ERA in over 130 innings between 2015 and 2016, but struggled to find the same success after that before he was ultimately claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Angels in 2018. Medina appeared in 19 games for the Mets in 2022 and famously picked up his first career save against the Dodgers by retiring Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Will Smith in the bottom of the 10th. <\/p>\n
Ronny Mauricio, the leagues MVP last season for Los Tigres del Licey, is expected to join the team on Nov. 18, after this series. <\/p>\n
Other notable Los Tigres del Licey players include longtime MLB veteran Emilio Bonifcio, Francisco Mejia, Danny Santana, and Arodys Vizcano. <\/p>\n
Los Tigres del Licey are currently 10-8 and in second place in LIDOM, and they are the leagues defending champions. Las guilas Cibaeas are 5-13 and in last place, and most recently won the league in the 2020\/21 season. <\/p>\n
Fridays game will start at 6 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays games will begin at 1 p.m. All proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the Sports Dreams Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on benefiting youth baseball and similar activities in the Dominican Republic and the United States. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Former Mets Coming to Citi Field for Titans of the Caribbean Series - metsmerizedonline.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first-ever Dominican Winter League Series kicks off tonight with the two winningest teams in LIDOM history, Los Tigres del Licey and Las guilas Cibaeas. The game will feature many current and former major leaguers and a few former New York Mets, including one member of the 2015 National League Champion squad. Las guilas Cibaeas released their official roster for the Titans of the Caribbean series on Wednesday, headlined (at least for Mets fans) by 2014 NL Gold Glove winner Juan Lagares Continue reading