By now most of you have heard the somewhat surprising news that the Mets have inked a 29 year old walk-on by the name of Tim Tebow. Yes, he's going to generate interest in whatever minor league camp he attends. That will boost attendance and bring some otherwise disinterested fans to the ballpark for the chance to see him smash or crash.
It's interesting to me that a club that decides 20-something Cuban, Korean or Japanese players can't possibly be worth the risk of signing due to their lack of experience against major league pitching watched Tebow flail helplessly against former major leaguers and said, "Yeah, let's sign HIM!" I realize it's mostly a publicity stunt rather than a genuine diamond-in-the-rough type of story, but the headlines made me shake my head in wonder.
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11 comments:
A head-scratcher to be sure, but n Instructional League try-out is hardly comparable (in risk/reward) to a multi-year mega MLB deal with some international player.
I'm thinking D.J. Dozier here, whose signing I greeted more with a shrug than disgust.
It generates revenue for any minor league franchise where he'll appear, so I understand the motivation. Still, as Alderson himself characterized it, the likelihood he'll amount to anything is a hail Mary.
29 is awfully old for a guy to try to start a baseball career. The last toolsy football athlete we tried was Ivan Wilson and he supplied plenty of breeze with his strikeouts.
This sounds like one of the Wilpons decisions where they are simply doing a favor or doing something for someone that they like.
To me: not an issue to even think about.
Brother Steve voted emphatically in Wilpon Laughing Stock column
The funniest part of the whole story is the various scouting reports which all talked about his home run power vs. his propensity to swing and miss, but then a few went onto to say, "He can't throw." That should come as no surprise to Jets and Broncos fans.
He should hire a few pitchers for the offseason and work on hitting breaking pitches, breaking pitches, and breaking pitches, in that order.
At 29, if he has any chance to succeed in this endeavor, he needs to put this on the rapid accelerator. Two years max to the big leagues should be his goal, one he is likely to not attain.
ESPN rated Tebow 40 Arm, 45 Field, 35 Hit, 55-60 Power, 55 Speed. Better than Michael Jordan. I don't mind having a little fun with this, watching him try this - there are not a lot of quality OFs in Mets minors, so the worry of some quality guy losing key ABs seems minimal.
If he can figure out how to hit, who knows?
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