When former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow worked out for Major League scouts, the Phillies were one of 28 teams who showed up to watch him play. Tebow was trying out to sign with a team as an offensive player and not a pitcher, despite using his arm in the National Football League. After a couple weeks, Tebow has signed with an NL East team.
Jon Heyman reported that it is the Mets who have signed Tebow:
Mets have deal with Tebow. Minors deal as required by rules for non-drafted free agenr.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) September 8, 2016
Chances are this move was for non-baseball reasons.
As former Mets general manager Steve Phillips pointed out when he called into his own show on MLB Network Radio from a vacation, the Mets have control of their own regional sports network, SNY. The network is already reporting the move as front page news. As Tebow heads to the instructional league, SNY will get plenty of attention that they otherwise might not have had regarding the Mets.
At 29 years old, Tebow will be much older than the other players in the instructional league. Whether he can keep up with them is another question. While former basketball star Michael Jordan was able to hit in the low-.200s as a baseball player for Double-A Birmingham, Tebow may never get that that far. A ceiling of selling tickets for the low Class-A Brooklyn Cyclones might be the highest Tebow may go.
