Too often in the recent past, it appeared that the leadership in the Braves clubhouse was too laid back. Not anymore. This group has an edge to them. Lowe, McCann, Chipper and Hudson are all taking charge, behind the leadership of Bobby Cox.
    During my visit to Spring Training last week, there were a couple of confrontations with members of the media. One was about the Griffey, Jr. situation and how it was handled by the local paper. The beat writer took an earful. The other was about Francoeur's arbitration salary. One of the local sportstalk guys took a beatdown for using the greedy word. Hudson and Francoeur spoke up. The meda members did the listening. Can't say I've seen that in Braves camp before. 
    But this goes fartther than just talking down to a couple of the media types.
    And the most encouraging leadership story surrounds catcher Brian McCann. He's all grown up. McCann has now emerged as a leader on the Braves. Here is a guy tired of not winning. And he's doing everything he can to change that. Brian showed up at camp slim and trim. Players took notice. This guy is serious about winning. And now, he's more vocal. His maturation process is over. Might as well start calling him "captain." How awesome is this? The Braves have an 3-time All-Star catcher, who's 25 and driven to succeed. Go ahead and pencil him in at catcher for the next half decade, at least. He hits. Brian is an excellent receiver. And he leads. Atlanta has the best catcher in baseball. Period.