Sandy Alderson still might be laughing.
No, Tim Tebow did not receive an invite to big league camp with the Mets at spring training. He will instead start in the minor league camp and should be expected to appear in Grapefruit League games.
Granted, this was expected.
Back in November, Alderson laughed when asked about the extremely remote possibility, saying, “I don’t want to get into it right now. The guy is going through a warp-speed development process. Who knows what’s going to happen in the end?”
On Tuesday, Tebow again defended his decision to swap the gridiron for a baseball diamond.
“I thought about it,” Tebow said on ESPN’s “First Take.” “More importantly for me I wanted to do something I wanted to do. That would be fun for me, a challenge for me. That’s why I chose to pick up a baseball bat.
“At a certain point, it’s not about what other people want you to do it’s about what you want to do. It’s your life, not everybody else’s life. I could go play football at another position, but why settle. Life isn’t about settling, life is about striving.”
The news of Tebow not being at the big league camp must be a disappointment for Terry Collins, who said back in December that he’d like to the see the former NFL quarterback there.
“We’re in New York. We can handle anybody with a name on his back in our camp,” the Mets manager said during his media availability at the Winter Meetings. “If they decide to send him to camp, we’ll get him better.
“I can tell you, I certainly hope you will see Tim Tebow in some of our games.”
Sorry, Terry.
The team did invite the following players: RHP Chase Bradford, catcher Xorge Carrillo, LHP P.J. Conlon, infielder Phillip Evans, infielder Luis Guillorme, RHP Kevin McGowan, LHP David Roseboom, RHP Paul Sewald, infielder Dominic Smith, outfielder Champ Stuart, outfielder Travis Taijeron, RHP Corey Taylor and RHP Logan Taylor.
Tebow, 29, hit .194 in the Arizona Fall League.
WHEELER AGREES: The Mets and right-hander Zack Wheeler avoided arbitration, as the two sides agreed to a one-year contract worth $800,000. Wheeler, 26, hasn’t pitched the last two seasons due to a torn elbow ligament. Wheeler, who had Tommy John surgery in March 2015, owns an 18-16 career record with a 3.50 ERA.
