EX-MET ANDREW CHURCH NEEDS TO SHUT UP

I never liked the fact that Tim Tebow became a Mets player in their minor league system. It almost seemed too easy. It almost seemed definitely like the Mets were trying to sell more tickets by bringing Tebow in.

Because, let's face it... people love the guy, or hate the guy, but there's no in between. And Tebow sells merchandise and tickets... so the folks that like him will buy, and at this point in the Mets franchise, they need to take whatever they can get. It's a desperate move, but a smart one for a flailing Mets franchise. Plus Tebow is a solid athlete and can probably succeed... so there's a great story attached to it.

Enter Andrew Church who is unhappy about all of that.  Not only that... Church is out of a job, just like the many, many Minor Leaguers who were affected in this pandemic.  It's a very sad situation. None of us here at BYB wants to see the minor leaguers screwed from dreams and milestones.  But this just gets cranky and Church needs to pipe down.

24/7 Sports writes:

"...former Mets minor leaguer Andrew Church, is not happy with how the Mets handled Tebow as a player and criticized them in an Instagram post earlier this week. On Sunday, he joined Lance Medow on Mad Dog Sports Radio to go in depth about Tebow and the Mets.

'Personally on a relationship level between me and Tim, I think he's a respectable human being,' Church said. 'I think he carries himself well. I think he works pretty hard for an athlete. As a person and a human being, I can't blame this man for following his journey. I'm bitter. He felt like we had some tension between me and him. I sat down and talked to him myself and I said ‘I am angry at this organization for what they are doing and how they are handling this.’ I said we have spent all of our lives….I have spent since I was two years old playing competitive baseball. All we wanted was the same rights he had, the same respect he got. Not from the fans but our organization and we felt that didn't happen at all. "

A few things to unwrap here.  Church respects Tebow as a man and Tebow thought there was tension between the 2.  And guess what... reading that statement, clearly there was. Church should be railing against the Mets much more, a crap team... not Tebow.  Tebow is an athlete.  Church shouldn't have even dragged Tebow into it.

Much like Michael Jordan years ago, if a team thinks there's a ballplayer in that build be it a basketball or football player, they take a chance.  Sure, the Mets sold a few extra Tebow jersey's in the process, but Tebow did nothing wrong.

Here's more from cranky Church:

'There's speculation that he made more than the average minor leaguer, but it wasn't about that. It was about how they treated him. For example, it’s mandatory to take a bus to every trip we go on. The team bus. I know for a fact he did not. None of us can do a separate job in the middle of the season and definitely be back in the lineup. He was able to. "

Russell Wilson does spring training with the New York Yankees, but never plays a game and never plays during the season.  It's a contract he worked out.  Tim Tebow obviously was smart enough to hammer out whatever he could being a big public figure like he is. I think what's dumb is that Andrew Church doesn't understand this. Sounds like sour grapes. Yes, there are favors in high level sports when it comes to high level athletes.  Lets be honest, everyone knows Tim Tebow. No one knows who Andrew Church is.

Are the Mets idiots for hanging onto Tebow? Nope... it's smart, but what they should have probably done was explain to the organization as a whole how it would go down.  Now you have players like Church that don't get it and feel like they're being left in the dark. And I have news for you... I don't care if they're major leaguers or minor leaguers... players need to understand the process.  Then those players won't come out after the fact and bitch and moan.

Do I like the way the Mets handled Tebow? No. But I get it.  Here's the problem... Church doesn't and he's slamming an organization he was once part of like Tebow was the deciding factor or something.  To be honest, I don't get it. It's sad.