Much to be desired

Each day, I talk to my friends about baseball and they always say "Yeah yeah..." and the disinterest can be seen for miles around.  I know all too much for someone who is simply a fan of the game, and not enough for me to ever want to think that I could write about it.  Finally, I've actually decided to put some of my thoughts into writing.

Going forward, I think that this space will be to show my favorite stats, posts, and blogs that I have seen each day.  There are plenty of great blogs all around the blogosphere that you, as a reader, can find to get great analysis of particular teams and their games.  And I will share those as I find them and post them.  I'm unsure where my mind will be in a few months.  I am a Braves' fan, and my mind is set on watching them night in and night out to see them make the playoffs this year.  More than half of posts will probably be about the Braves, and I have no shame in saying that.

This is where I start.
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There is an elephant in the room.  He is large and he makes too much noise.  Fredi Gonzalez, the Braves' manager, has shown those paying attention how he manages his teams.  Through 30 games, the Braves have 5 stolen bases and they have been caught stealing 10 times (between 7 players).  Through 30 games last season, the Braves have stolen 9 bases and were caught just 4 times (between 3 players).  It is no doubt that the Braves are much more aggressive on the base paths.  However, in many cases, these stats are not at all good.  Of those 7 players caught stealing, 3 of those are players that should not be put in motion unless there's a 3-2 count with 2 outs in an inning.  Brian McCann, the catcher; Eric Hinske, a slow bench bat; and Freddie Freeman, the first baseman are the culprits.  These three players are not exactly gazelles on the base paths, and, with the way the Braves' offense has shown to be hot/cold at odd times thus far, these players are better off staying at first base with the possibility to score rather than in the bench because they didn't get a good jump and/or are just not fast enough to steal bases in the first place.

It is one of my many arguments against Fredi Gonzalez' management tactics, and I will most likely be sharing them all at one point or another during this season.  I will also be taking up #FireFrediGonzalez each day on Twitter.

Will this be an anti-FG blog?  I don't think it would do much good.  There is only so much that a manager can have control of during a game and there are quite a few qualified opinions showing that a manager has a negligible effect on a team's win/loss record.  No less, it will be maddening to go through the season watching the moves that FG has made and will be making.