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MLB notebook: Mets invite Tebow to spring training

[January 20, 2018] Tim Tebow received a formal invite to spring training from the New York Mets.

Tebow made it to Class A with the Mets last season. He summarized his first season of professional baseball as "a lot of learning moments."

"Almost every day there's something I've never been through before that you're learning, whether it's something on base or something in the outfield or something at the plate," said the 30-year-old Tebow, who split his time between the outfield and designated hitter spots. "Or it's getting to go over something again because of the way someone's pitching you."

For the season, the former Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Florida and NFL quarterback notched a batting average of .226 with eight home runs and 52 RBIs. Tebow started the season at Columbia in the South Atlantic League. In June, he was elevated to the Florida State League to play for Class A St. Lucie.

--Randal Grichuk, the odd man out in the St. Louis Cardinals' outfield, was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for right-handed reliever Dominic Leone and pitching prospect Conner Greene.

Grichuk became the fourth outfielder on the depth chart when the Cardinals acquired Marcell Ozuna from the Miami Marlins. Ozuna is expected to play left field with Tommy Pham in center and Dexter Fowler in right.

Grichuk, 26, hit just .238 last season with 22 home runs. Leone, 26, posted a 2.56 ERA with 81 strikeouts over 70 1/3 innings for Toronto last season, while Greene, 22, was a seventh-round pick in 2013.

--Free agent outfielder J.D. Martinez was offered a five-year, $125 million contract by the Boston Red Sox, the Boston Herald reported.

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Martinez is considered one of the best hitters available in free agency. The Scott Boras client is reportedly seeking a $200 million package.

He hit .303 with 45 home runs and 104 RBIs last season, split between the Detroit Tigers and Arizona Diamondbacks, who acquired Martinez before the MLB trade deadline.

--The body of two-time Cy Young winner Roy Halladay showed evidence of morphine, amphetamines and traces of a sleep medication when it was examined after his fatal plane crash into the Gulf of Mexico last Nov. 7, according to an autopsy report.

The Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner's Office report also found traces of the antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac) and a blood-alcohol-content level of .01. The 40-year-old former Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher was found to have died of blunt force trauma with drowning as a contributing factor, according to the report, after his single-engine crashed into the water about 10 miles off the coast of Florida near Tampa with Halladay the only passenger.

Previous reports said the plane had flown erratically leading up to the crash, dipping within a few feet of the water before climbing steeply and turning sharply. Similar findings were released in a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is still investigating the matter.

--Field Level Media

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