The Mets signed Tim Tebow to a minor league deal on Thursday and hey, why not? Though Tebow’s odds of lasting success in baseball remain almost impossibly long, he undoubtedly has pro-caliber athleticism and he will draw tons of fans to games at any minor-league park in which he plays.
There’s likely more to it than that, too: Tebow shares an agent with Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, and Cespedes can opt out of his three-year deal with the club after this season. The team would undoubtedly like to have him back, and it could be Tebow’s acquisition represents something of a goodwill gesture between the Mets’ front office and agent Brodie Van Wagenen.
While Tebow will likely never himself see the bright lights of baseball in New York City unless he buys a ticket, the Mets need to prepare their young players for their big-league club’s unique and aggressive media atmosphere. Though the impact of the city’s huge media contingent on actual on-field baseball events is often overblown — especially by members of that media contingent — the group of 40+ reporters inevitably covering just about every Mets home game represents a challenge players must learn to negotiate.
A few years back, I happened to be covering the minor-league side of Mets spring training the same day the club’s prospects endeavored media training. A team official asked me, in no uncertain terms, to grill the players as best as I could because it marked an opportunity for them to practice their developing PR skills. Adding Tebow to that mix, obviously, will give some Mets farmhands a heck of a lot of experience dealing with media hordes long before they reach the Majors.
And while every minor league team in baseball would presumably love to welcome Tebow and the associated uptick in ticket sales, the Mets have a number of affiliates that seem especially apt to benefit from having Tebow. What follows here is an attempt to handicap the chances of Tebow starting his pro career with each of the Mets’ minor league teams. It assumes he makes it through spring training without giving up and going home.
Columbia Fireflies: 2-to-1
Guys, it wasn't that hard...all you had to do was just put goal posts up. #Tebow pic.twitter.com/ZUm1INK9u7— Columbia Fireflies (@ColaFireflies) September 8, 2016
The Mets’ Class A affiliate in Columbia, S.C. already seems psyched to bring Tebow into the fold, and the Fireflies make sense for Tebow for a variety of reasons. The quality of minor-league facilities varies greatly by team and league, and the Fireflies so happen to play in a beautiful brand-new ballpark (opened in 2016) loaded with modern amenities that holds up to 9,000 fans. And Columbia is also the home of the University of South Carolina’s main campus and football team, so it’d put Tebow back in SEC territory.
Brooklyn Cyclones: 2-to-1
Only a few more sunsets like this to enjoy at the ballpark this summer. pic.twitter.com/fIAeOMaImh— Brooklyn Cyclones (@BKCyclones) August 31, 2016
Like the Mets, the Cyclones are owned by the Wilpon family, and the big-league club has always seemed especially vested in the Short Season Class A ball team’s success. Starting Tebow off in Brooklyn would mean keeping him in extended spring training until the New York-Penn League season kicks off in mid-June, but that’s probably not the worst idea given that he hasn’t played baseball since high school. And though the Cyclones still regularly lead their circuit in attendance, ticket sales have been trending downward for years, dropping to an average of 5,614 in 2016 after averaging more than 8,000 a game as recently as 2007.
St. Lucie Mets: 5-to-1
OK, so one thing to keep in mind if Tebow lands in the Florida State League is that the circuit is rough on hitters, so he’d almost certainly post a LOL-worthy batting line if he started out with the Mets’ Class A Advanced team. The Mets’ roots run pretty deep in Port St. Lucie, also the home of their spring-training operations, and the FSL is notorious for awful, awful attendance numbers (the Lakeland Tigers have averaged 334 [!!!] fans per game this season). Tebow, playing sports again in Florida, probably rejuvenates the entire league.
Binghamton Mets: 8-to-1
It seems like a lot of people have decided Tebow will start at Class AA simply because Michael Jordan did, but this holds that it’s unlikely. For one thing, Class AA pitching is just much, much better than it was 22 years ago when Jordan played — guys throw way harder now throughout the minors. Still, having a club in Binghamton is fairly convenient for the Mets as it’s only a couple hours away by car, the team does not draw well, and the longtime B-Mets will be rebranded with a new nickname and logo next year. Candidates for a new team name include “Stud Muffins,” “Timber Jockeys” and “Rumble Ponies” — no joke — and you have to figure Tebow would mean a ton of Rumble Pony jersey sales.
Las Vegas 51s: 35-to-1
While playing in Sin City might give Tebow ample opportunity for proselytizing, it would also mean forcing him to attempt to begin a baseball career against pitchers already ready for the fringes of the Majors, nearly all of whom have at least credible breaking pitches. He’d get eaten alive. The 51s play in a dated facility and their manager, Wally Backman — though a far more interesting dude than the gritty old-school baseball cartoon he’s often portrayed as — does not necessarily seem a great fit for Tebow (and all the associated nonsense) for a variety of reasons.
Kingsport Mets: 35-to-1
We wouldn't mind that. Not one bit. #TebowTime https://t.co/AgxYzaJ1aB— Kingsport Mets (@Kingsport_Mets) September 8, 2016
The Mets’ Appalachian League affiliate in Kingsport, Tenn. would also love to have Tebow, but Rookie ball tends to be the dominion of teenagers and 20-year-olds. Tebow would have to look real, real bad in spring training to start out his career at such an advanced age at such a low level. And it says here there’s no chance he begins with the Mets’ Gulf Coast League team in Rookie ball, as Gulf Coast League teams don’t even charge attendance.
0 comments:
Post a Comment