Tim Tebow Has a Venezuelan Winter League Contract Offer

Tim Tebow’s much-balleyhooed baseball showcase takes place on Tuesday. Before that even happens, he’s got a pretty intriguing offer. Per Yahoo’s Jeff Passan, Tebow’s reps at CAA were sent a contract from Aguilas del Zulia, who have won the Venezuelan Winter League five times.

As Passan explains, this is much more significant than a PR stunt offer from a minor league baseball team. Some actual major leaguers compete in the winter league, and there is a pretty high level of competition. The team’s GM went on the record for Yahoo’s story:

" “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.” "

However, this is not without downside. The worst case scenario for Tebow, who hasn’t played organized baseball since he was a junior in high school, is that he could be out of there within a week:

" “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.” "

While it would still qualify as a total shocker if Tebow ever actually made an MLB ballclub, Passan writes that the offer “lends credence to the idea Tebow will sign with a major league team.”

Say this for Tim Tebow: He’s never boring. We may well get several months or even more out of this story.

[Yahoo]