The guess here is that the Atlanta Braves do -- as Pedro Gomez of ESPN has reported -- have interest in Tim Tebow . They did, after all, send both Brian Bridges (current scouting director) and Roy Clark (former scouting director) to Los Angeles to monitor his ballyhooed workout, and Gomez reports that they were one of five teams to meet with Tebow afterward.
So: There's interest, yes. But this would seem to me to be interest, meaning curiosity, as opposed to outright We-Gotta-Have-Him lust.
If the Braves were to sign Tebow -- still a significant "if" -- I'd imagine their offer would be a minor-league contract, period. No promise of promotion to the majors in a year's time. (The man hasn't played baseball since 2005, when Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur were rookies.) No guarantee of even an invitation to spring training.
Just a minor-league deal, the sort MLB organizations offer all the time with rather less fanfare. But that's the thing: Where there's Tebow, there's fanfare -- chiefly from ESPN, once his personal network and currently his employer.
If Tebow would be invited to spring training, it would sell a few tickets, sure. If he were to be placed on one of the Braves' rookie-league teams -- meaning next year; minor-league seasons are all but over -- it would help that entity at the gate. It would also be a sideshow that threatens to become the show itself, and that's what all interested MLB parties, not just the Braves, have to weigh: Is there enough potential in a 29-year-old footballer to warrant the distraction?
It wouldn't surprise me if Tebow does sign a Braves' contract. (Nothing the Braves do in the asset-allocation department surprises me.) It would be a shock if he lasts long in any organization. Baseball is hard. You might ask Michael Jordan.
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