The Bb5 Sicilian

i recently switched to playing 1. e4 with white and i'm trying to keep my repertoire as simple as possible, and not worry too much about learning openings to any depth, for the moment anyway.

is the Bb5 sicilian an opening i can play with mainly general ideas? according to the title of bologan's book on the opening it avoids tons of theory - which is obviously true in that there is a lot of theory in the various open sicilians, but it seems like most gm games these days go into these lines rather than 3. d4, suggesting there is already a lot of theory here - much of which potentially critical? 

i guess what i want to know mainly is, does anyone have any opinions on if it will be easier on me to just play 3. d4 and develop normally, or to learn a couple of ideas of 3. Bb5 and try to develop normally from there?

I like Bb5 Sicilian. There is still  theory you have to learn but if you are willing to play the lines where Black plays Nc6 you are willing to exchange your bishop for that knight you can get some interesting play.

These are technical lines, meaning you can navigate the positions if you know how to handle the pawn structures after Bxc6.

I'm not sure you can play them by ear though, but with some experience and going through a handful of games, you'll probably be able to find your way.

A simpler choice, theory-wise, might be the Closed Sicilian, but here again, you'll need some time get familiar with the various ideas.

obviously i will have to spend some time learning ideas in whatever i choose to go for, as long as i'm not likely to be in a terrible possition after an inaccuracy on move 11 or something i'm happy.

part of what i mean when i say i want to keep my openings simple is that i want to try and play all of my openings with the general philosophy of just getting my pieces out quickly and then playing chess. playing Bb5 seems to fit in with that more than the closed sicilian.

i usually like to play the c3 sicilian or bb5 sicilian but here is a game i played as white in the bb5 sicilian.

Well, sounds like a good choice