Mets Don't Offer Tebow Invite To Spring Training
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Tim Tebow needs a lot more work.
That's what the Mets think after they decided not to invite the NFL quarterback-turn-baseball outfielder to spring training.
Tebow, who hit just .194 in the Arizona Fall League, will start at the team's minor league camp.
Though not unexpected, the decision is sure to upset Tebow's legions of fans.
At last month's Winter Meetings in Maryland, Mets manager Terry Collins said he looked forward to the possibility of Tebow being invited to the big club's camp, adding he wasn't worried about the immensely popular 29-year-old being a distraction.
"We're in New York. We can handle anybody with a name on his back in our camp," Collins said. "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."
However, general manager Sandy Alderson pretty much pulled the plug on that idea back in November.
"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?" Alderson said at the time.
Following a three-year NFL career that saw him play for the Denver Broncos and New York Jets, and receive training camp invites from a few other teams, Tebow decided to try his hand at baseball, a sport he excelled at in high school. His power and athleticism impressed scouts and eventually led to him signing with the Mets.
Though many have laughed at his desire to switch sports, Tebow said recently he remains fully committed to baseball.
"At a certain point, it's not about what other people want you to do; it's about what you want to do," Tebow recently said on ESPN's "First Take." "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."
