Traina Thoughts: Mets GM struggles to come up with reasons for Tebow promotion
The best of the Internet, plus musings by SI.com writer, Jimmy Traina.
1. If Tim Tebow wants to play baseball, Tim Tebow should play baseball - no matter how bad he is at the sport. If the Mets want to use Tim Tebow to make money, the Mets should use Tim Tebow to make money. Nobody is being hurt by either of those things. However, what would be nice is if the Mets just admitted they're using Tebow as a business asset and not a baseball player. The former college football star is hitting .222 with three home runs, 23 RBIs and 69 strikeouts in 64 games.. He's also made seven errors in 62 games. He's 29 years old with no shot of ever being a legitimate Major League Baseball player.
This didn't stop the Mets from promoting Tebow Sunday to Class A St. Luice in their minor league system. New York GM Sandy Alderson painfully tried to explain why Tebow got a bump. He mentioned that Tebow's OPS is twice as high at home than on the road. (What does that have to do with anything?). He said the Mets were pleased with Tebow's first half. (How can they be pleased with a .222 average and 69 strikeouts in 64 games?) And then he dropped this gem: "It's not like he's tearing up the league, but at the same time, all the indications are positive in terms of various things we at all. Chase rates, exit velocity. The average isn't there, but he's improving."
It's hard to tell if Alderson's explanation is more funny or embarrassing. It was definitely bizarre.
So to sum up, the Mets promoted Tim Tebow because of chase rate and exit velocity. Not for publicity and ticket sales and business reasons.
2. In case you missed over the weekend while you were enjoying some great weather, the biggest story, by far, was that Dodgers rookie slugger Cody Bellinger revealed that he doesn't know who Jerry Seinfeld is or what he's done.
3. Let's play the feud! ESPN's Michelle Beadle posted the photo below on Twitter last week, and New York Post columnist Phil Musnhick is very upset.
4. Speaking of feuds, tennis legend John McEnroe says in his upcoming book that Serena Williams would be ranked No. 700 if she played in the men's circuit.
5. Last week, the Mets got all worked up because Yasiel Puig took 32 seconds to round the bases after a home run. New York would be very proud of A's infielder Adam Rosales. He took just 15.88 seconds to fly around the bases after a dinger yesterday.
6. Carmelo Anthony and wife, LaLa, are supposed to be getting divorced, but the Knicks forward poured his heart out on Instagram while wishing his wife a happy birthday.
7. A Nationals fan used his obituary to take a couple of shots at the team's weak bullpen.
8. "Traina Thoughts" is retiring "THE DAILY ROCK" and will now feature a RANDOM WRESTLING VIDEO OF THE DAY Monday thru Friday in this space. Since we wanted to start things off with a very strong video, we give you Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan performing, "Stand Back" at the 1987 Slammy Awards.
Get the link to a new Traina's Thoughts each day by following on Twitter and/or liking on Facebook. Find past editions of Traina Thoughts here.
