Tim promotion a grand sham

MICKEY Callaway and the Mets set a tone for some needed accountability in 2018 by sending once-touted veteran Zack Wheeler to the minors when he failed to earn the open spot in the starting rotation created by Jason Vargas’ injury.

Too bad the front office didn’t take the same approach with Tim Tebow, promoting him to Double-A Binghamton this season off his underwhelming performance last year in Class A, where he hit .226 with eight home runs and a .656 OPS.

Look, we all know the deal with Tebow. Last summer, Sandy Alderson admitted to season-ticket holders there was an entertainment factor in bringing aboard the Heisman Trophy winner — even though he had insisted it was strictly a baseball decision at the time of the signing.

And then this winter Alderson said he expected that Tebow will play in the big leagues at some point, even though you can’t find a scout or a rival executive who believes the former quarterback has the ability to compete at that level.

So this all feels like a set-up to get Tebow to New York when the rosters expand in September, which would be especially egregious if the Mets make good on their talent level and are contending for either the division title or a wild-card berth at the time.

This isn’t a knock on Tebow. He may not have earned a promotion but I respect the fact that he seems so committed to this fanciful baseball dream, riding the buses with his fellow minor-leaguers all of last season and apparently preparing to do it again in 2018.

And actually, you can make the case that because Tebow is 30 years old, the Mets have to force-feed him up the organizational ladder to evaluate him as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

But I don’t really believe that’s their motivation.

After all, they saw him go 1-for-18 with 11 strikeouts during spring training, looking as overmatched as he had the previous spring. They know this isn’t going anywhere.

So they should have left Tebow in Class A St. Lucie where he could sell more T-shirts to SEC fans and either hit enough to legitimately earn a promotion or move on to becoming a full-time football commentator.

One scout, offering an opinion on the lack of talent in the Mets’ farm system, made the point that Double-A is the level where teams start to judge players more seriously as prospects or non-prospects.

“To me it becomes a bigger deal if they’re putting Tebow in Double-A,” the scout said. “Nobody considers him a prospect.”

The same scout said he saw improvement in Tebow from last year, saying, “He got a little shorter and quicker to the ball (with his swing). If he was 19 or 20 maybe you’d say he had a chance, but not at his age.”

I’m not saying this is the crime of all baseball crimes. The much bigger issue for the Mets, as it applies to the minors, is their lack of top prospects.

This winter, Baseball America ranked their farm system No. 27 among the 30 organizations in baseball, and the players they judged as their best prospects are almost all in the low minors.

With that in mind, another scout, who had the responsibility of evaluating the Mets’ system the last two years, downplayed any notion that Tebow is delaying the advancement of another prospect by being in Double-A.

“They don’t have many guys pushing for advancement in the upper levels, especially in the outfield,” the scout said. “Tebow isn’t hurting anyone. I think he’s probably a good influence on some of those kids, with the work ethic he has.”

That’s partly the Mets’ position, that their minor leaguers will benefit from being around Tebow, watching someone as accomplished as him grind through a minor-league season.

Even if that’s true, however, Tebow’s influence should carry more weight in the low minors, where the big leagues can feel a million miles away for most players, than it does in Double-A.

So a year into this saga, I’m no less cynical than I was when the Mets signed Tebow, paying him $100,000 with the apparent intention of making up the money in ticket and T-shirt sales. t just feels a little different with him in Double-A. He didn’t earn his spot there, and if the Mets are willing to promote him to Binghamton without cause, I don’t doubt that we’ll see him at Citi Field someday.

Alderson’s well-documented appreciation for a clever punchline notwithstanding, I just don’t understand why. I can’t imagine he’ll sell that many Tshirts in Queens.

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