5 MLB organizations that could sign Tim Tebow

The Tampa Bay Rays need some sort of energy injected into their baseball organization. After being a competitive franchise despite a shoestring budget during the Joe Maddon era, the Rays have become largely irrelevant in the American League East the last few years.

Attendance is always an issue in cavernous Tropicana Field. Going on 20 years later as a professional franchise, Tampa Bay struggles to draw respectable Major League crowds. There are a ton of people all over Central Florida, but it has been difficult to get people from Orlando to take the hour and a half drive to St. Petersburg.

One way that the Rays organization can galvanize the Central Florida baseball population is to sign Jacksonville native and former Florida Gators star quarterback Tebow. Tebow is a media lightning rod like few in the business. He is beloved in Central Florida from his dominant days on the gridiron in Gainesville.

He could play outfield, pinch hit, or maybe even some first base on a team that largely isn’t going anywhere in the next few years. Frugal Tampa Bay doesn’t have to pay him more than the league minimum and the Rays organization could profit from the Gator faithful looking to enjoy themselves on hot summer days with no football, watching Tebow try to play baseball in the climate-controlled indoor monstrosity that is Tropicana Field. Tebow doesn’t have to be good, just entertaining for Tampa Bay to reap the benefits.

Next: 4. Los Angeles Angels