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I don't necessarily consider Rob Neyer to be overly edgy, but he's more than willing make an enemy if it means getting to thoroughly express his opinion. Well, Neyer did a lot of that during a two-day stretch at the end of September. Take a look at the four quotes I posted below and maybe then you'll understand why I think he's so great.

On the Diamondbacks offense being the reason for their disappointing season:

"Which leaves only the hitting. And oddly so, because when you look at the
Diamondbacks' lineup, it's hard to find even one obvious scapegoat. Once Eric
Byrnes went down for the season with a left hamstring injury, there weren't any
bad hitters in the lineup..."

(Note: That quote might not seem like a big deal, but I enjoy any time when someone points out the obvious flaws of Eric Byrnes. Byrnes is the fan-friendly, media-friendly, glorified Ryan Freel who gets way more credit than he deserves. So what if he drove in 83 runs last year, and signed a big contract in the offseason...he's never been anything more than an average offensive player.)

On the growing resentment of Ichiro from the Mariners' clubhouse:

This year Ichiro's not even the best player on a 100-loss team, but he's making
far more money ($17 million) than any of his teammates and his contract runs as
far as the mind can see (2012). Of course his teammates resent him. He's not
playing well (for him), he's making the most money, and he's not one of the
guys; he's not one of the white guys, or one of the black guys, or one of the
Latino guys..."

(Note: Can you believe this was posted on a Disney-owned website?)

On Tony La Russa penciling in bizarre lineups down the stretch:

"But this is what La Russa does. He's always been infatuated with players who
can play (or seem to play) five or six positions. My guess is that he's trying
to figure out if Miles or Kennedy or Lopez can play a super-utility role next
season. If La Russa's trying to send a message, it's this: "I'm smarter than
you.""

(Note: It's always fun to point out how unlikable Tony La Russa must be.)

On retiring reliever and popular blogger Todd Jones, and why he won't be interesting in his post-baseball career:

"Unless Jones remains in baseball somehow, I'm not sure how interesting his
column will be. Jones always has written from the perspective of the white,
American-born, veteran player, and I've always gotten the impression that he's
sort of the archetype: spends his offseasons hunting and fishing, loves the
American flag, doesn't really want to know whether he has any gay teammates..."

(Again, can you believe this was posted on a Disney-owned website?)

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
10/2/08