According to a report from ESPN, the Mets and Tebow came to terms on a deal this Wednesday, and with the contract now official, the 29-year-old former NFL quarterback and Heisman Trophy victor will play in the Mets’ instructional league, which will begin September 18 and end October 8.
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Tebow is under contract with ESPN to broadcast Southeast Conference football games again this fall, so even though he’s scheduled to report to the Mets’ instructional league camp on September 18, he’ll be taking off one or two days each week for his real job. He’ll begin playing for NY in the instructional league later this month.
However, Tebow is now 29 years old and hasn’t played baseball since high school, which makes Mercker skeptical of his chances at long-term success in his new sport.
“I know this is a tough game”, Tebow said during a conference call with reporters. He won two national championships as the quarterback for the Gators and played in the NFL for the Jets and Denver Broncos between 2010 and 2012.
While Tebow might be fighting an uphill battle – and could go the way of Michael Jordan – the newest member of the organization will get his opportunity.
“In terms of power, arm, foot speed, all of those things, we think he can be a baseball player”. There’s going to be a little bit of rust, a need for instruction and development. But aside from Tim’s age and his absence from the game as reasons he can’t make it, there are four or five reasons cited why he will make it. While he recognizes that Tebow faces an uphill battle in many respects, the GM says that the Mets could not pass on “a tremendous opportunity for us to associate with excellence”.
After three months with the New England Patriots from June to August 2013, Tebow was not able to find a quarterback in the circuit.
The display prompted many baseball insiders to say Tebow would get a shot with a team, though not at the major league level – at least initially. Could he generate a frenzy of attention in spring training at the expense of the other players? Yes.
Tebow’s commitment isn’t to playing baseball – he admitted that himself Thursday.
Before he joined the Mets, Tebow had been linked to the Braves. As of right now, I won’t bet against him as I have stated before, but I am on the fence about how all of this plays out.
“For me, you pursue what you love regardless of what else happens, ” Tebow said last week in Los Angeles. In struggling to build a case for Tebow’s future promotion to the bigs, Alderson mentioned that Seth Lugo was a 34th-round draft pick, that T.J.
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Either way, the new Mets tried assuming the role of the old Yankees on Thursday, and forgot this one critical New York, New York, point: There’s a big difference between a star and a baseball star.
