Sure, it’s a joke, but not a bad joke — at least not yet
PORT ST. LUCIE — When does a joke turn into a farce?
This age-old conundrum might just be solved by Tim Tebow. Of course. Courtesy of the Mets. Of course.
Sandy Alderson rolled a verbal hand grenade into the press conference room Sunday at First Data Field when he proclaimed of Tebow, the Mets’ minor league outfielder and de facto mental skills coach, “I think he will play in the major leagues. That’s my guess. That’s my hope and to some extent now, after a year and a half, a modest expectation.”
Wow! You haven’t seen so many sportsmedia types do a simultaneous doubletake like that since Hostess Twinkies temporarily went out of circulation.
In response to his general manager’s bold prediction, Tebow stuck to his script and his shtick at a subsequent news conference.
“For me, my goal isn’t about what’s going to happen one day,” he said. “My goal is to focus on this day.”
Nevertheless, the 30-year-old must know, buried somewhere beneath all of his mantras and platitudes, that he now has a strong chance of becoming the very first professional athlete to play for both the Jets and the Mets.
I’m OK with that. You should be, too. If you keep reading, I’ll tell you when a line would be crossed. Tebow’s career with the Mets is fundamentally a joke, a gag. Something to be enjoyed yet not taken seriously. That can be stated as fact because, in the Mets’ 2017 media guide, the team identif ied Tebow’s “signing scout” as James Benesh. James Benesh works not as a scout, but as a Mets merchandising executive.
“I’m happy he’s here,” Alderson, who divulged that media-guide tidbit last year, said of Tebow. “I think he’s great for the team. I think he’s great for baseball. He was phenomenal for minor league baseball last year. The notion that he should have been excluded from t he game because he’s not coming through the traditional sources, I think, is crazy.
“This is entertainment, too. And he quietly entertains us.”
You can’t deny Tebow possesses a magical quality that draws people to him. Even though he slashed an underwhelming .226/.309/.347 in 126 combined games for Single-A Columbia and High-A St. Lucie, both he and the Mets greatly enjoyed the experience, with Tebow’s clubs smashing attendance records — the Wilpons and Saul Katz own the St. Lucie affiliate, so they profited some from Tebow’s stay — and his teammates by all accounts benefiting from his generous and diligent nature.
He’s a non-roster invitee to major league camp because “We need to try to accelerate the process,” Alderson said, citing the finite nature of this experiment. You could envision a 2018 path starting at Double-A Binghamton, advancing to Triple-A Las Vegas and concluding with the Mets in September when rosters expand to 40.
“Tim Tebow is here because he can potentially help us at the major league level at some point,” Mickey Callaway said.
Well, if a Mets game went 22 innings and a pinch-hitting Tebow got hold of a hanging curveball … stranger things have happened, maybe. Most likely, he’d hang out, either cheerleading a contending club or brightening up a down-and-out group, and get a few opportunities in blowouts.
Such a promotion also would accelerate the amount of eye rolls throughout the industry. Only in one scenario, however, would it devolve into farce, a mocking of the game’s core principles.
If the Mets kept Tebow on their 40-man roster (which he’d join upon reaching the majors) this November as they prepared for the Rule 5 draft, then they’d really put themselves out on a limb. If an unprotected player got selected by another team and thrived just so the Mets could hold onto Tebow, it would be malpractice.
No one anticipates this happening.
“He benefits the Mets because of how he conducts himself,” said Alderson, who speaks of his Tebow adventure with the same zealotry with which Tebow speaks of life itself. “He’s a tremendous representative of the organization.”
As long as he doesn’t occupy another potential representative’s slot, Tebow and the Mets are good to go with this terrific joke.