The Tigers remain on the lookout for a starter, which could lead to a Chris Tillman signing, Jon Heyman of FanRag tweets. Tillman threw for the Tigers on Saturday, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun adds (via Twitter). Both Heyman and Encina note that Tillman is deciding among three teams and likely to sign within the next day or two, and they agree that a return to the Orioles is a legitimate possibility.
More from Baltimore and a few notes on the two New York franchises:
- The Orioles will more likely sign a left-handed-hitting outfielder than trade for one, GM Jim Duquette told Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com and other reporters Sunday (Twitter links). A move is unlikely to come today, however.
- The Mets’ Jason Vargas signing will likely conclude their heavy lifting for the offseason, general manager Sandy Alderson suggested Sunday (via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, on Twitter). “With Jason’s signing, we’re pretty much where we want to be,” said Alderson, who has been rather active in free agency since last season ended. Vargas was the sixth big league signing of the offseason for the Mets, who previously added or re-upped Jay Bruce, Todd Frazier, Anthony Swarzak, Adrian Gonzalez and Jose Reyes.
- The Yankees would buy themselves an extra year of control by having infield prospect Gleyber Torres spend at least 16 days in the minors this year, but that’s not going to factor into whether he earns a roster spot, according to GM Brian Cashman (via David Lennon of Newsday). “It’s not part of my evaluation process,” Cashman told Lennon. “We’re trying to win. If we feel that somebody could benefit from more time in the minors, we’ll make that decision at the end of camp. But I’ll take all the information from what I see and factor that into the evaluation. Every win for us is valuable.” Torres, one of the game’s top prospects, may well emerge as the Opening Day second baseman for the Yankees, who lack an obvious solution there. That would be especially impressive given that Torres is still just 21 and has only totaled 235 plate appearances above the High-A level. He raked over that sample size last year, with a .287/.383/.430 line between Double-A and Triple-A, before undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery on his left (non-throwing) elbow in June. Torres has fully recovered from the procedure.
- The Mets actually have “modest expectations” that minor league outfielder Tim Tebow will eventually earn a major league call-up, Alderson revealed (Twitter link via James Wagner of the New York Times). “He’s great for baseball. He was phenomenal for minor league baseball last year,” Alderson said of the former Denver Broncos starting quarterback and ex-University of Florida football star. Prior to last season, which the 30-year-old divided between Single-A and High-A and hit .226/.309/.347 in 486 PAs, Tebow hadn’t played organized baseball since high school.
Poor Mets fans.
Tebow = carnival act = projected merchandise sales. Normally I don’t mind giving anyone a long shot opportunity but what about the poor guy in the minors that might otherwise get that call up opportunity? Unless he unexpectedly shows promise MLP should shut this PT Barnum like fiasco down. Remember when Bowie Kuhn voided Charlie P’s attempt to sell Blue, Fingers and Rudi to the Yankees and Red Sox? This situation and the way teams are now tanking and selling off players is not really in the long term health of the league. Even the Dodger-Brave recent trade is not good for the game. Trades should focused on the on the field benefits as compared to accounting benefits. Give the teams credit for exploiting the “legal loopholes” but they need to be slammed shut. JMHO.
If Tebow is better than the guy that would get the call if Tebow wasn’t in the org then Tebow should get the call and no one should be worried about the other guy. Point is do your job and force the team to advance you.
Tebow got advanced without being good enough to be advanced. What about a 30 year old who is 7.5 years older than the competition, already past prime MLB age, and playing in the lowest levels of the minors not reaching even league average offense while striking out at Adam Dunn levels suggests that he should have been promoted last year?
If the Mets want a carnival act, fine. But let’s not pretend it’s something else, or that he’s earning his keep. I haven’t looked at their roster at A ball, but surely someone outperformed that nonsense. He is getting a different set of rules. And, again, if the Mets want that, it’s their business. But Tebow is not earning his keep on his performance, and he is likely costing someone who is, and we don’t need to pretend otherwise to further the debate.
There is no other 30 year old with his stats in the minors. Anyone else that bad would’ve been fired years ago. Only thing keeping him in baseball is his name.
It’s true though that he’s not keeping anyone else from achieving their dreams. If you’re bad enough to be held back by Tebow, you never had a chance to begin with.
His age is one of the contributing factors to the fast promotions – they can’t let a 30 year old stick in A-ball. Moving him fast is their only option if they want to get anything out of him in terms of production.
Exactly the same as what we see with AAA filler signed every year. There are absolutely better ball players in A and AA ball than some of the guys that get signed and head straight to AAA. But those old guys don’t get sent back down a level because they’re just too old.
Yes, there’s the promotional aspect. Yes, Tebowmania can be annoying. But what he has been able to do, after so many years of not playing organized ball, is quite incredible. He’s performed better than some guys who don’t put down a bat. There’s clearly some talent there.
In all honesty, a.226/.309/.347 slash line in High A ball at age 30 doesn’t warrant any kind of promotion for any other reason than the before-mentioned carnival act aspect.
Broader picture dude, can’t look at that slash line in a vacuum. After more than a decade of not playing any organized ball, it indicates there’s something worth pursuing. Very few people can walk into baseball and do that.
That same slash line done by someone who has been a full-time ball player, would indicate there’s not much to get out of them. Tebow effectively did it coming in off the street.
Ignorance of the particulars isn’t really an excuse here.
And I don’t even particularly like Tebow, personally.
“Tebow, before an August slump in which he went 3-for-44, had his average over .300 in July. He hit .220 at Class A Columbia and .231 at St. Lucie, spending almost the same amount of time at each level. The outfielder and designated hitter batted .317 in his first 25 games in Florida and amassed a 12-game hitting streak in July.”
Only 2 players batted above .300 in his league. It’s not like he was batting in Colorado Springs.
He finished .226 with eight homers, 52 RBIs, 24 2B’s .309 OBP across A-A+.
People are mad at him for playing for Mets A Team? Lol
His biggest mistake was signing with the Mets. Despite NYM took advantage of this slow off-season, with 3 relative bargains (+Swarzak) which raised payroll over $150M+ for second year, Wilpons are still a big market team owners, with a “small market mind-set” until they prove otherwise. Make fun of the Mets for signing him because they need $$, not a guy trying to follow his dream, who doesn’t need money.
“Not a guy trying to follow his dream” two years ago it was to be a quarterback in the NFL. Come on man if this was his dream he’d be working on it year round and not taking weekends off starting in August to be on the SEC network. Xabial you’re better then this
“People are mad at him for playing for Mets A Team?” No, it seems most, including myself, are disappointed that Alderson would have “modest expectations” based on ““He’s great for baseball. He was phenomenal for minor league baseball last year,”“He’s great for baseball. He was phenomenal for minor league baseball last year,”
If he were to get called up to AAA and legitimately out performs others and earns a call up….fine. If he is called up simply to sell novelty jerseys then any scorn is deserved.
Cashman just lied about manipulating Gleyber Torres’ service time.
I would think Alderson is lying about Promoting a guy who doesn’t deserve the promotion. Don’t get me wrong, I’m rooting for the guy (however unlikely, journey To MLB seems) but GM’s like Alderson lie all the time, through their teeth.
With Tebow, it’s personified, and people take it personally. I don’t believe in the least bit, Alderson would promote Tebow, when he hit .226 in Single A (even if the league leader hit .303)
Yep, they do lie. After denying the whole time that Tebow was signed as a marketing gimmick Alderson said “Look, we signed him because he is a good guy, partly because of his celebrity, partly because this is an entertainment business,” “My attitude is ‘Why not?'”
He also said “Attendance is really minor factor. We didn’t benefit from the attendance increases in Columbia or around the South Atlantic League. We benefitted marginally, modestly I would say again, when he was in St. Lucie,” Alderson also said. “We won’t benefit when he is in Binghamton or Las Vegas or Syracuse, what have you, but he benefits the Mets because of how he conducts himself. He’s a tremendous representative.” Yet “ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported the Columbia Fireflies and St. Lucie Mets, the two teams for which Tebow played in 2017, saw their attendance increase by 21 percent and 37 percent, respectively.” I would say that is more than modest.
My guess…he goes to Binghamton and then Vegas whether he deserves it or not to try and give his stats nudge. Vegas is the Coors Field of the PCL because of the elevation (granted 2,000 feet is not a mile) and low, low summertime humidity.”Park Factors at StatCorner say run scoring is inflated to more than 13 percent of the league average at Las Vegas. The 51s hit .291/.365/.452 as a team in 2016.”
I have no doubt he will be called up no matter how he preforms.
Give me the name of the guy he’s holding back.
You can’t.
If there’s a young guy that’s good, he’s going to advance no question.
End of story.
baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=19c339…
4 were promoted from Columbia to St Lucie one slashing 290/376/509 another 290/370/462, another at 261/317/304 and the last one ranking 12th on the team in OPS at 220/311/336. All others stayed or were demoted.
Tebow was signed because of his celebrity, is at the Mets ST because of his celebrity and was promoted because of his celebrity unless you think 220/311/336 is worthy of a promotion.
After the 12 game streak xabial mentioned he slashed, in the 44 remaining games, 202/272/288 and that warranted a ST invite.
Since these are all low ball players it’s hard to say if he is hampering real talent but he already leapfrogged 4 of the Mets top 30 prospects Andres Gimenez, Desmond Lindsay, Luis Carpio and Quinn Brodey despite not being in the Mets top 30.
If he is promoted to AA and or AAA before others with superior stats it will be telling. Considering the statements made it would not be surprising.
Tebow has done nothing but play in low level minor leagues. No one else even at age 25 who’s done so little would be invited to a ML camp. it’s strictly for PR and potential merchandise sales if a miracle happens.
Thank you!
You are correct in blaming the Mets. Michael Jordan realized he couldn’t dobit either but I think he played at a higher level. The Mets are taking a shot on the dark envisioning a sold out Stadium with jerseys to sell if he deserved a call up. If not for the negative publicity it would bring in NY, he probably would already have that ML camp invite.
He’s there!
Very good Cam ditto your comment and want to add he is also doing this as a lefthanded hitter. Just like left-handed pitchers they give these guys a look longer than others.
My bad!
Collin Obrien…..not only is he there at ST but he is the only player to have both a home and away jersey for sale. I am sure that the only reason for that is spectacular set of skills at the plate. /s
I like it Cat! You know your Mets. Well the Tebow thing brings a lot of attention and Fanfare and sales of tickets and jerseys and such. It’s not a horrible thing because like I said the good players will move up anyways, Tebow or not.
I saw the sold out games in low A. I saw the extra few thousand people going to a game to see him in the FSL. I heard that the Columbia ticket sales decreased 80% after he was promoted. All the best to him but he is just money in the Mets pocket.
Teams are ran like a business not to do what is best for the long term health of the league. If they want to promote a guy to sell T-shirt’s than that’s fine because next year they’re gonna be forced to pay free agents ridiculous salaries for their poorest performing years with opt out clauses so if they suck they can get paid and if they perform they can fleece another team. And if the league doesn’t go along with it Boras and the players association will go on the attack and claim collusion. So if they have a chance to make a few bucks for a circus act than go ahead, it’s their right. I’d rather watch Tebow play for the league minimum than someone like Tulowitzski make $25m to be a role player.
I agree Dewey. It’s been happening for years; the Red Sox sumo all of those contracts on the Dodgers as an earlier one.
And speaking of John Henry & Co. how about them burying their bad signings in Pawtucket to avoid luxury tax? The payroll at Pawtucket was more than the rest of their league.
Tebow = carnival act = projected merchandise sales. Normally I don’t mind giving anyone a long shot opportunity but what about the poor guy in the minors that might otherwise get that call up opportunity? Unless he unexpectedly shows promise MLP should shut this PT Barnum like fiasco down. Remember when Bowie Kuhn voided Charlie O’s attempt to sell Blue, Fingers and Rudi to the Yankees and Red Sox? This situation and the way teams are now tanking and selling off players is not really in the long term health of the league. Even the Dodger-Brave recent trade is not good for the game. Trades should focused on the on the field benefits as compared to accounting benefits. Give the teams credit for exploiting the “legal loopholes” but they need to be slammed shut. JMHO.
Careful dewey there’s a couple Tebow cronies that will argue to the gates of heaven about this guy..yea I threw heaven into a Tebow post. I called Tebow a clown and got the old how great he is and smart for business and Yada-yada. One loser had the nerve of using Tebow’s athleticism and grit to compare him to great two sport players like Dionne,Dave W.,and of all people Bo Jackson..These guys need a serious reality check!!!
“ . . . great two sport players like Dionne, . . . “
Like who? The only Dionne I can think of is Warwick, and she never could hit the curve ball. I’m guessing that you’re trying to reference Deion Sanders. Trying to work with you but you gotta help a little.
She played a hell of a RF and medaled in the long jump at AAU Quarters.
It’s called auto-correct. Must be nice to be perfect in every way. MP
Autocorrect gets all of us eventually, Collin. No way of telling that prior to your response, of course, and it did take me a minute for me to figger out who was being referred to. But ‘no harm, no foul’ works here too. What’s “MP”, btw?
That’d be Charley F, I do believe.
Hahaha! My “Charlie P” boy was in a rush to bash Tebow. Get a new song Tebow critics.
If Tebow wants to try a sportier should tryout for the new version of the XFL.
*sport
Are the Angels in talks for Chris Tillman??
Another starter could do with getting out of the AL East. he’s a decent guy and could probably do better in the NL really tho.
Gleyber’s slugging in 2017 was .480, not .430
Yeah I was going to say in what universe is a .813 OPS considered raking but then I double checked his stats and saw it was actually .863. Which still isn’t raking; it is fantastic when you factor in his age, but the numbers have to be huge to describe it that way. The AFL 2016 is where he actually raked, 1.158 OPS.
Pitchers park for a middle infielder? I have no issue with the term.
Unleash
Tim Tebow
Let him go
It’s time
Turn him loose
Let him play
youtube.com/watch?v=mUUPNzF3-2Q
All he does is win all he does is win games
He should bring back the tebowing whenever he hits a home run
xabial I hope to God your joking.
For not playing for all those years to getting 486 plate appearances in his first year, much respect Tebow
“He’s great for baseball. He was phenomenal for minor league baseball last year,”
Translation: We sold a lot of tickets to people who just wanted to watch the washed-up-ESPN-darling-QB sideshow!
More to the point, jerseys, jerseys, jerseys. You think Tebow got promoted for hitting .210 & fielding like Big Papi trying to play SS? They wanted to sell Mets Spring unis, Firefly unis, AND St. Lucie jerseys. This coming year, they’ll sell Rumble Ponies jerseys, 51s jerseys, and if the Mets are out of the race again, Mets jerseys. Then he gets released. The end.
Maybe so, but good for those teams he played on. Those minor league affiliates, on several nights out of the year, have to have outrageous and quite frankly ridiculous game promotions to see more tickets and get fans in the stands…If it helps that city’s team, and the surrounding businesses by drawing in more fans, then I cannot see what all the fuss is about…
Tebow draws haters everywhere, for some rational and irrational reasons, but if he’s helping these teams make money, then what is the harm??
He certainly isn’t going to hold back any legitimate player, nor will he take away a roster spot from a deserving player…There are minor league veteran, organization fillers ALL up and down every franchises affiliates…
People need to get over it…
My criticism has nothing to do with tebow. If they did this with colin kaepernick or johnny manziel I’d be critical of it too. He’s just on the field because of his celebrity status. Why not Brad Pitt at 1st and Justin Bieber in LF? Maybe Barack Obama would like to try DHing for a season, thatd sell tickets
C’mon, man! Bieber has CONSTANTLY shown that he can’t hit an outside fastball!
And the Oscar goes to……Brian Cashman, for “Pretending the Yankees Won’t Declare Torres Needs ‘a Little More (16 days) Seasoning'”!
Well if he comes out and says it he can probably face a grievance (and lose), so I don’t know why they even bother asking that question.
Any other news on Minor League OFs with marginal talent who may or may not ever make the majors? Or just Tebow, as if he’s relevant in 2018.
I call bs on Cashmans comments. Not that I would expect him to say otherwise but it would be foolish to start Torres anywhere but AAA.
Cashman is absolutely lying through his teeth – but he has no other choice.
Any inkling whatsoever, that he might be held back for service reasons, and the MLBPA will be all over it like a rash.
Cashman can’t be serious about Torres. If he doesn’t get an extra year of control, he’s not doing his job.
For sure……..plus Yanks don’t need Torres that early as they handily win the division. Boston’s rotation is a firm “sell” if it were a stock. Sale is great, but hits a wall toward last month of regular season and don’t be stunned if this is the year his arc heads the wrong direction. That would be tough w/Price bloated contract and Porcello nothing special.
Remembering Bryant for the Cubs… let’s speculate now about what will be said when Torres is called up after the additional 20 days or so worth of “seasoning” in AAA…
Tebow should be playing indie ball if he wants to play baseball. He’s not Michael Jordan, he doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Tebow was” phenomenal for minor league baseball last year” hitting 220? By that standard there are close to 2,000 minor leaguers who are phenomenal for the minors. Yeesh. Talk about overvaluing a “prospect”.
should have said “phenomenal for attendance” Sellouts at practically every game his team had, home or road. Teams with maybe 1,000 on a good night turned into mad houses.
This will explain the ridiculousness of the Tebow experiment,ESPN is actually having a segment about him on sportscenter. ESPN hardly covers baseball much but this sideshow gets airtime. Thank god they covered the MOONSHOT MEN(Stanton and Judge)first!!!
I’m guessing that takes the Orioles out of the running for Corey Dickerson. He wasn’t the best fit but I thought there was a pretty decent chance,
Yeah. They have some good talent fomenting in the minors—but not enough to part with.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Tebow is called up later this summer in September.
It will be a few months earlier Fisher40. As soon as the rest of the Mets roster starts to crumble for age; Reyes, a-Gon and normal injuries; Cespedes and a few pitchers Mutt and Jeff will be pulling the GM control stick to bolster attendance in the face of a tanking team.
Waiting for the day Tebow finally comes out…and I don’t mean of the dugout.
Railroading a baseball discussion to talk about male homosexuality, is a bit suss. Is there something you want to tell us?
Even if Tebow posts a .850 OPS in a full season of AA, at the age of 30, he wouldn’t warrant a September call up. It would only be for the ratings and attendance pump.
And he’s not going to do that itself. You don’t got from a .650 OPS in high A to that. It’s gonna take massive improvements quickly for him to be big league caliber
Tebow is a publicity stunt. We all know that.
Tillman pitching in Comerica Park could very well cure what ails him. It would be a good first challenge for new pitching coach, Bosio.
Mets should not be done. They need to sign LuCroy. They also need another lefty in the bullpen.
The Orioles need to get Dickerson.
Alderson writing a new chapter in the PT Barnum playbook. The Tebow Factor.
This has already been WAY MORE Tebow MLB discussion than there ever should have been…can we please just end this facade?
Rooting for Tebow! That article was a great read. People hate him bc they ain’t him.. He is the type of person who will be successful in whatever he chooses to do.
no, they hate him for making a mockery of the sport they love, and they hate the Mets for indulging his delusions. and hate the writers who insist on playing along with the farce. and especially hate all the fanboys who think his carefully crafted ‘aw shucks’ image somehow makes him immune from the criticism every other player has to face about their performance…
outside of college football, Tebow hasn’t been that successful at anything… his actual performance in baseball to date has been dismal, and his first career in football ended with nobody wanting to put him on the roster… and yet somehow people are wasting the time of serious baseball fans to talk about a dismal minor leaguer…
i don’t want to be Tim Tebow…. i’d rather be somebody who’s good at his job….
nailed it
.650 OPS in A ball at age 30. Yeah, successful by whose standards?
“He is the type of person who will be successful in whatever he chooses to do.” which is why he is in the NFL
Ha, exactly.
I, like many other people, like Tebow as a person, but The Mets are just using him to sell tickets. If they promote him to The Majors next year, they’ll do it just to have a few sellout games, over he can be a productive member of the team.
I totally agree with everything you say. Tim Tebow is a great athlete and an even greater person ! However… he really should have swallowed his pride and converted to TE or FB in the NFL.
I don’t “hate” him, but I find him incredibly phony. I don’t buy into his “good guy” rhetoric. There are plenty of guys in the world who are upstanding, dignified guys that don’t have to use that as a marketing tool. With that said, I don’t blame him at all for giving baseball a go. I do, however, think it’s a disgrace that the Mets would make their young guys have to deal with this circus show just to sell tickets because they know he will NEVER make it to MLB. Whether he’s blocking anyone or not, he’s still a distraction.
Tebow just OPS’s .656 in the low minors as a 30 year old. The Mets comments are ludacris, there’s nothing to warrant optimism of a major league call up. What a gimmick. I feel bad for Mets fans, ownership and management just seem horrible, looking in