Posted on 08/10/2019 8:35:56 AM PDT by zeestephen
For the second consecutive year, Tim Tebow's minor league baseball season ended early because of an injury...The former Heisman Trophy winner suffered a cut on his left pinky last month that won’t heal in time for him to play again this year...he's struggled offensively in Class AAA Syracuse this year. In 77 games, he batted just .163 with 98 strikeouts in 239 at-bats.
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Somehow, he cut it while fielding a ball in the outfield about three weeks ago.
Only thing I can think of is that he split the web of skin between two fingers, and it became infected, or else it keeps splitting apart when he takes batting practice.
That’s a lot of strike outs. He’s not major league material.
AAA season ends September 2. That’s about four weeks away.
He’s probably continually aggravating the injury and he’s not playing well anyway.
There are better players that could get his ABs. Mets are now serious WC contenders and are looking for help from AAA.
Too bad. I really like the guy, and he was a great fan draw at the AA level last year with the Mets.
He will be 32 next week.
At that age, it’s hard to believe that he can ever improve enough to make it.
I really like the guy, and his work ethic and passion are downright amazing.
But it’s probably time to focus on sports announcing and commentary.
When he started on this pro ball path, there were scouts that said he wouldn’t have the bat but that as an outfield defender he might make the majors. Turns out, he has little OF talent despite his athleticism.
He’s at the point he would be the oldest non-pitcher rookie since the WW2 era.
Agreed.
Playing professional sport is over.
Maybe golf.
For a cut on his pinky finger? WHAT?
He should have stuck to football. Sadly, the NFL’s politically correct garbage league thrashing of him (with the media and others) shafted him.
Age 32 and never broke out of the minors. It’s time to go do the next thing.
He is a nice guy and has a lovely wife. He will do well in the rest of his life.
Of course, for counter examples, both Rick Sutcliffe and Orel Hershiser V lingered in the minors for five years before their remarkable careers in the majors.
bump
Professional sports have never, in their entire history, been about showcasing the best athletes and posing them against one another in the most competitive environments.
Professional sports came about when someone observed a sporting match, looked over the crowd and said to himself "there's money to be made here." Then figured out how to do it. Recruiting and paying the most skilled athletes has been a means of selling tickets and t-shirts, but it's not the only way.
Tim Tebow has probably sold more minor league baseball tickets than any player in the history of the game at that level. He would sell a lot of Major league tickets too, but he will sell a whole lot more tickets and tshirts in the majors if he can actually play because having an unqualified player on the team only works for a little bit of time before it damages the brand and lowers ticket sales. Make no mistake about it, there is a spreadsheet somewhere in the Mets' servers that has a calculation of exactly how much money Tebow can make them by bringing him up to the major leagues, and it gets updated each season. Minor league teams can milk his "development" process for as long as he wants to play, but there is probably a spreadsheet on that same server that figures out where he'll make the most money that gets updated each season as well that plays heavily into where he gets to play as well.
The Yankees damn near traded him several times, and then he finally found a spot in the starting rotation in 1977 due to injuries and trades. Once he was there, they couldn't believe how effective he was.
In his case he always had a good arm, but he became a dominant pitcher once Sparky Lyle taught him how to throw a wicked slider. I suspect some variation of this story is what happens with most pitchers who linger in the minors for a long time.
Cheesh! I was a meat cutter in a meat packing plant long ago. I cut my hands several times. After getting treatment, I went back to work in a day or too and continued to work even though each movement hurt. I even took out the stitches when it was apparent the cut healed enough so as to not open again.
Spending 4 or 5 years in the minors after high school is not lingering. Graduate high school in late May/early June, then the rest of that season in Rookie League or Short A.
Then the next 4 seasons in Low A, High A, AA, AAA.
Spending 4 or 5 years in the minors out of college - from what I can tell, college baseball is roughly AA. Also you figure the player is what - 27 or so?
Now Tebow is going on 32....he doesn’t have the luxury of lingering. From what I could tell, he deserved promotion from A to AA, and from AA to AAA (I could be wrong), but if he’s batting .163 in AAA, he is not a major league batter.
Making the playoffs sells more tickets than any celebrity minor leaguer taking up a roster spot.
The Mets carry 13 pitchers. That means a 4-man bench. A spot can’t be wasted regardless of tickets if the team has a chance at the playoffs.
Batting avg. and strikeouts don’t tell the whole story. How many times did he get a walk? Hits + walks = times on base. How many RBIs and runs himself did he add to the score?
Many of the MLB great players have had high strikeout numbers for decades.
Sounds to me like he just needs a good batting coach to teach him to stop swinging for the fence. Singles and doubles will put him on base and drive in runs.
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