New Managing Editor at Viva El Birdos

Before reading further, I recommend everyone read Ben Humphrey's last post as manager of Viva El Birdos, "Adieu and thank you". Without any further ado on my part, I am pleased to announce that I will be taking over as Managing Editor of Viva El Birdos.

Ben did a fantastic job leading the site for nearly two years. Since taking over, he wrote more than 800 posts and by rough estimate, around half a million words, not including his roughly 500 posts before he took over the site. While VEB is about more than any one person—the writers, readers, and commenters all help make VEB the fantastic site most of us know and love—over the last two years, the site was a reflection of Ben. In my completely biased opinion, that reflection is an incredibly positive one.

This site has set high standards for a decade, with great work from lboros, Dan Moore, and most recently Ben at the helm with many smart, talented writers I have been fortunate to be a part of at VEB. Despite being more prolific in his writing schedule, Ben did not let the quality of his writing lag. Anyone who has written on even a semi-regular basis can understand how difficult that can be. Ben deserves a break from writing, and I am happy that he will have more time away from a computer. He said very nice things about me in his farewell post, and I appreciate them greatly. I have always enjoyed my conversations with Ben about Cardinals baseball, and I would not have taken this position without his advice and encouragement.

I do not intend to distract from the real goings on in the Cardinals' world, but will answer a few questions you likely have. For those loyal readers concerned about the direction of the site, I aim to keep VEB as the very best Cardinals site out there, and aside from the big loss of Ben, I do not anticipate major changes. I have spoken with Joe, red baron, lil scooter, Nick, and Ben Godar, and all of them will be staying on as writers and editors. Since I began writing for FanGraphs in February, I have been posting here roughly once a week. I do not have any intention of stopping my writing at FanGraphs, but I will be writing here at VEB more than I have during this past season. Ben left some pretty big shoes to fill, both as leader of VEB as well as in producing interesting, worthwhile pieces for all readers. I will attempt to fill some of that void.

I have opinions, I share them, and I back them up with fact-based analysis. The last part will always be the most important.

Hopefully, an introductory, get-to-know-you post is unnecessary given my roughly 200 posts and my thousands of comments, but should you have any questions, my email address is in my profile. In case you know nothing about me, I like the movie Groundhog Day, the television show NewsRadio, and cheering on the Cardinals, not necessarily in that order. You can find me on twitter @craigjedwards and you can feel free to ask any questions you have in the comments of this post. I am really excited about this opportunity, and I hope that you are, too.