Rob Neyer

From Wiki Gonzalez

Rob Neyer is a well-known baseball analyst for ESPN.com, a published author, and a Primate.

Table of contents

1 Profile

2 Neyer on BBTF

3 See also

4 References

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Profile

Before joining ESPN.com in 1996, Rob was an assistant to Bill James.

Rob is sometimes credited with helping sabermetric analysis go mainstream through his ESPN.com columns, which succinctly transmitted the lessons he learned under James to a new generation of web-surfing baseball fans. He also wrote special articles for ESPN.com's baseball section, most notably the "Transactions Primer." Rob used to flaunt his flannel shirt, as seen in the photo accompanying his columns, but ditched it in 2004 for a blue T-shirt.

Rob attracted enough of a following to warrant an ESPN.com message board just for his articles, which quickly became known as the Neyer Board and resulted in the Neyer Boarders.

Besides his web work, he pops up periodically on ESPN's various broadcast TV and radio properties to discuss baseball news and controversies.

Like Bill, Rob is a long-time fan of the Kansas City Royals. He co-writes periodic "Rob and Rany on the Royals" dialogues with Rany Jazayerli for his personal site, RobNeyer.com.

Rob has written or co-authored numerous baseball books, including Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Lineups, Feeding the Green Monster, Baseball Dynasties: The Greatest Teams of All Time, and The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers.

While working for ESPN.com's early contractor, Starwave Communications, Rob lived in the Seattle area near Starwave's HQ. In order to write Feeding the Green Monster, he moved to Boston and lived in a small apartment near Fenway Park. He is currently believed to be living in Portland, Oregon.

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Neyer on BBTF

Before 2004, Neyer's ESPN.com columns were regularly linked to and commented on in Baseball Primer. In 2004, through no fault of his own, most of his columns went behind a pay wall, as part of the ESPN Insider premium content section. His "Rob and Rany on the Royals" pieces are still free for all and garner regular comments on Baseball Think Factory.

Some Primates feel that Rob is idolized by the cult of Moneyball. Others feel that Rob isn't analytical enough in his articles, dumbing down and/or oversimplifying stathead precepts. Rob is a Primate himself, and he reads and sometimes posts to respond to this type of criticism.

In January of 2005, Rob came asking for help from the Primates in a Transaction Oracle thread about Derek Lowe signing with the Dodgers for $36 million over 4 years. What, he wanted to know, was Paul DePodesta thinking? The arguments advanced there became a part of Rob's January 10 column in which he didn't approve of the signing, but tried to walk through what DePo might have been thinking.

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References

Dodgers sign Perez, Lowe (http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/oracle/discussion/dodgers_signed_perez_lowe/) - "A No-Prize for the first Primate who can come up with a good reason for Lowe getting more money than half the guys who signed for seven or eight million per season..." (January 8, 2005)
Transactions Primer (http://espn.go.com/mlb/s/1999/0908/46397.html) - Rob attempts to explain the vagaries of baseball's transaction rules. (September 8, 1999)

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