The day before Tim Tebow’s professional baseball workout, Aguilas del Zulia of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League sent a contract to Tebow’s agent on Monday hoping to sign him for winter ball. It was believed that former major-league pitcher Dan Haren would be throwing to Tebow in his tryout, but Haren later denied those claims.
According to Yahoo’s Jeff Passan, Tebow does have interest in playing winter ball. The team is a five-time champion of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League and has won the Caribbean Series twice. As Passan points out, the opportunity would be a pretty big step for Tebow:
Unlike his indy-ball offer, Tim Tebow's contract from Aguilas de Zulia of Venezuela would put him in a league filled with major leaguers.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 30, 2016
Aguilas general manager Luis Amaro told Yahoo Sports that he believes Tebow is a great talent and that it’s a risk the team is more than willing to take:
“He’s a great talent,” Aguilas general manager Luis Amaro told Yahoo Sports. “He’s an athlete. He’s won the Heisman. He’s won two national championships. I know baseball is a hard game, but he’ll either adjust and show he’s ready to play pro ball or not. I think it’s low risk, high reward for Zulia.”
[…]
“In winter ball, we give guys a week to adjust, sometimes less, and if they don’t adjust and we see the league is too competitive for them, we let them go,” said Amaro, the second-year GM of Zulia and brother of former Philadelphia GM Ruben Amaro Jr. “If he signs with us and plays with us and is helping our ballclub, we’d love to have him around for the whole winter.”
This isn’t Tebow’s first offer. The Schaumburg Boomers offered him a contract upon his announcement of trying to play professional baseball. That was much more a publicity move than the one offered by Zulia. Passan notes that the Venezuelan offer is much more competitive, and that the roster turnover is heavier.
Amaro told Passan, “I hope he takes it. I think it’d be a lot of fun to watch. I think it would be great for the league to see him in a Zulia uniform.”
I think there’s a piece in all of us that would like to see how Tebow would do on a diamond, considering that he is a good athlete, but that he’s also been away from it for so long.
[Yahoo]
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