I was in a Dick’s Sporting Goods this weekend. Being the dedicated New York Mets hot takes specialist that I am, I took a gander at the jerseys they were selling. I saw that they had a bunch, even more than they did for the New York Yankees–anyone who grew up in the New York area knows how much of an anomaly that is.
But then I looked through the jerseys. They were all only one player.
Was it Yoenis Cespedes, the highest-paid player in Mets history? Nope.
Was it David Wright, the franchise leader in practically every offensive category? Not him.
Was it any of their myriad of young, elite starting pitching? No, no, no, no, and, deepening if you still count Zack Wheeler in that category, no.
It was a minor leaguer. And it wasn’t any of the five guys who Keith Law had in his Top 100 MLB prospects.
It was Tim Tebow, a guy who batted .194 in the Arizona Fall League this year. That’s the only jersey that they were selling there. And it apparently sells pretty well; his jersey is among the top sellers on the Mets’ MLBShop.com page.
This shouldn’t be. A guy who will probably never play in the major leagues is not someone worth dropping $120 on a jersey for.
Despite this, the internet will probably be flooded with Tebow stories when he makes his debut at Port St. Lucie with a press conference on Monday. And despite all of the attention that Tebow will receive, he is a non-factor for the Mets this year. Plain and simple.
This is not a knock on Tebow as a person or as a player at all. Watching him set records in Florida and pulling off comeback-after-comeback with the Denver Broncos has justifiably earned him a lot of fans– not to mention his tremendous off-field character. I’m still kind of ticked off that the New York Jets didn’t start him, to be honest.
Who knows, maybe his athleticism and natural talent could someday put him in the majors one day, although that’s still probably unlikely, and certainly not in 2017.
The point is there are plenty of more pressing storylines that Mets fans should be worried about. Tebow is not the factor that many out there will make him out to be– plain and simple.
Tebow is a great guy who serves as a tremendous role model for a lot of people. He was a tremendous college football player, a pretty darn good pro football player, and someday, maybe he’ll even be a fantastic MLB player. But that day is not today.
I have no problem with throwing a press conference for Tebow on Monday when Minor League camp officially opens, but how about a press conference for last season’s pitcher of the year as well, P.J. Conlon, at least he earned it.
