http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/five-questions-toronto-blue-jays/ Five questions: Toronto Blue Jays by Craig Burley March 31, 2010 1. When will the team be sold? 什麽时候要卖掉蓝杰伦？ Hopefully, soon. 希望快一点罗 We begin on a serious down note, but the 2010 Blue Jays are likely to be a sonata comprised of a series of down notes. With payroll dramatically slashed and widespread trade rumors dogging every established player (bar the untradeable Vernon Wells) the Blue Jays have begun to face the new era After Ted (Rogers, the founder of the team's ultimate owner Rogers Communications Inc.). 哎呀呀，一开始就得谈论这个严肃不堪的话题。不过蓝杰伦今年的球季可能比我 们现在的话题更严肃不堪阿。在大砍薪资和一阵阵的交易传言风暴後，蓝杰伦终 於要离开 Ted Rogers 时代面临新纪元了。 Vernon Wells 表示：ㄖㄨㄟ～ㄖㄨㄟ～ㄖㄨㄟ～ (2009 OPS+ = 88) Ted Rodgers 表示：我的宝藏都不在那里，要就拣去吧～ Ted wasn't the world's greatest baseball fan, and he didn't understand a thing about running a ball team. What he did have, was tight control over his company, and a personal desire to see the team win (within reasonable economic parameters), which had inspired his decision to buy the Blue Jays in the first place. Ted's death in December of 2008 meant that the team had lost much of its raison d'etre and it showed in the meaningless meandering last season as succession matters within the Rogers empire sorted themselves out. Ted 不是一个很棒的球迷（婉转），他不懂怎麽经营。他所做的只有紧紧控制住 他的公司和看到胜利（至少在预算内合理的胜场数）。当 Ted 在 08 年过世後， Roger's firm 继续掌控蓝杰伦就不再显得如此必要了，甚至在 Ted 继承权的安 排中也未对蓝杰伦多所着墨，这让蓝杰伦去年球季看起来像是行屍走肉般的漫游 球队。 The Blue Jays are by no means a crown jewel of the Rogers empire, from a business point of view. The sports properties (Jays, Rogers Centre, and the right to host NFL Bills games) that Rogers owns represent less than 1.7 percent of the revenue of the enterprise as a whole and the Jays are only a part of that. No one who matters at Rogers cares much about the Jays anymore, in a business run by accountants who are likely concerned about a team in decline on and off the field. Sports property 在 Roger's firm 中仅占很小的产值。任何注意 Roger's firm 的人都不会对这块小饼有什麽兴趣，就商业的角度而言，也不会有什麽会计师对一 个没落的球队的球场大小事感兴趣。 Given the widespread apathy that has greeted the Blue Jays from the Toronto (and Canadian) public in the last 10 years, it has not come as a surprise to followers of the team that payroll has been dramatically slashed and minor expenses (such as the hiring of a few unemployed scouts cast aside by other teams) trumpeted as major turning points in the team's approach. The apathy of the fans has finally, in an accountant-driven regime, given rise to apathy from the owners. The likely avenue is that the team will be sold, although as recently as last October executives from Rogers gave indications that the team was not for sale. But they had already shown their hand in August; their commitment to the Toronto Blue Jays was significantly coupled with (according to the Canadian Press) a commitment that the baseball club's costs be controlled. CEO Nadir Mohammed's vision is that costs are to be controlled, a poor cousin to the proven "if you build it they will come" school of building a winner on the field and in the market. 假使这十年来蓝鸟在运动市场上无法引起狂热是事实，造成蓝杰伦接下来的大砍薪 资和小联盟球探扩增并不让人太过讶异。市场的冷落，最终影响了球队的经营政策。 蓝杰伦似乎仅剩被出售一途，尽管 Roger's firm 承诺不会出售球队－－但连带的 保证球队必会缩压薪资。像是贫穷版的「梦幻成真」，主角「Nadir Mohammed」紧 握着一点小小的预算追逐一个建成棒球场的梦想。 It's clear that someone with a serious interest in operating the team will need to purchase it before success can be regained on the field. The current administration is led (make no mistake) by The Barefoot Onanist, renowned yesterday's man Paul Beeston, as team president. Sometimes a cigar is more, indeed, than just a cigar. It was Beeston who installed the recent office gofer in the GM's chair, in a move which reminds one of nothing so much as The Hudsucker Proxy. Beeston (long a courtier of power and a close friend of Bud Selig) seems to be doing nothing more complex than driving the market value of the club down, and the way he dominates the conversation with a lickspittle local sports press (with his general manager nodding furiously in confused assent beside him) is depressingly familiar to this erstwhile Montreal Expos fan. So long as someone besides a Beeston-led group eventually purchases the team, we should begin to imagine the Jays slowly returning to realistic contention. 像 Ray Kinsella （「梦幻成真」主角）一样，任何想要经营球队的人，都必须先 丢下一大把时间、心力和资金，才能慢慢的走向梦想的实现。目前的高层决定让 Paul Beeston 掌职 CEO（这句麻烦帮译）。有时一条菸不只是一条菸，就像 Paul Beeston 不只是一个蠢蛋，而是蠢蛋中的蠢蛋。Beeston 特地雇用一个专司杂务而作不了什 麽像「金钱帝国」中的大事的跑腿。Beestton（这个 Bud Selig 的好友和忠实的狗） 看来做不了任何比拉低球队市场价值还复杂的任务，而他和狗腿运动记者的对话（ 一旁还有个已经胡乱得点头的倒楣 GM），想必引起了不少当年蒙特罗博览队迷那种 似曾相似的绝望感吧。Beeston 领军的队伍从来都是沦落到被身边人捧走，而这次 的蓝杰伦呢？等着看吧..... 2. So all is lost for the Jays then? 那难道蓝杰伦没希望了吗？ Fortunately for the team's fans, life is not always so simple; those who deserve to lose don't always find a way to do so. It would be foolish to pretend that the trade of the greatest player to ever don a Blue Jays uniform has "reinvigorated" the team, but the Blue Jays were not a bad team last year (frequent appearances to the contrary) and although they have lost much that is of value, there are a passel of young players and returnees who, if three or four major things broke right, could push toward Wild Card contention. 很幸运的，再糟的事情也总是有转圜的余地，无论你怎麽的想去弄烂它。假装那 些交易能让蓝杰伦重生是还满蠢的，但蓝杰伦去年的确还不错啦（好像常常看起 来不是这样？）。虽然他们失去很多，但他们有很多很多的年轻的和回锅的球员， 如果其中三或四个能冲破极限，蓝杰伦还是能参与外卡争夺战的。 麻仓叶表示：极限这种东西多死几次就冲破了。 The Blue Jays aren't starting from so low that they'd be a historic type of "miracle team" (like the 1961 Reds, the 1967 Red Sox, 1969 Mets or 2006 Tigers). Those four teams came from considerably further away than these Jays to win pennants. In the New Historical Abstract, Bill James identified four factors that the 1960s teams had in common: 相较於那些「传奇球队」（1961，Reds、1967，Red Soxs、1969，Mets、2006， Tigers），蓝杰伦的出发点还不算太糟。在《New Historical Abstract》中 Bill James 针对 1960 年代的三只传奇球队做出了四归结： （文者试图写点蓝杰伦的契机。但是不是真有希望，就请自己看看罗。） 1. The team makes some good trades. 2. The team comes up with some young players. 3. The team's existing young players come through big. 4. They can have guys having career years. 一、皆有做出成功的交易， 二、皆有年轻的球员， 三、皆有年轻的球员克服障碍， 四、都有人准备冲出生涯年。 James mentions a fifth factor that applies now, free agency, that didn't apply in the 1960s. Bill James 还提出了一点可能帮助一个低潮的球队复出的因素，FA，不过 并没有点在那三只传奇球队身上。 James doesn't talk about a key factor regarding points 1 and 4 : it's usually younger players who are the positive players acquired in trades, or who have the career years in question. (Think of the 2006 Tigers, who got a great year from Jeremy Bonderman and developed Curtis Granderson and Justin Verlander). This brings up a key factor in the Jays' 2010 chances, which is that although they did lose talent in the offseason, they have several key young players. Travis Snider, Adam Lind, No. 2 starter Ricky Romero, and No. 4 starter Marc Rzepczynski are keys there, as well as securing the eventual return of Jesse Litsch. Of course, surrounding that young core is a large number of older players, none of whom are superficially all that impressive. Nor do the Jays have (any longer) the frontline star power of the three 1960s "miracle teams" (the Reds had Frank Robinson and Vada Pinson; the Red Sox had Yaz, along with George Scott and Tony Conigliaro; the Mets had Seaver and Koosman on the mound). These Blue Jays have a young and soon-to-be-ready hitter in Brett Wallace, a young star-in-the-making in Snider, a developing bat in Lind, and a fine and still youthful second baseman in Aaron Hill, but no superstars. There's any number of ways in which those four players could put together a terrific group of seasons and push the Blue Jays over .500. The Jays in recent years have been derided for a weak farm system, but that is partially due to an aggressive pushing of the best young players up the chain, so that they hit the majors early. James 并没有提到第一点和第四点的一个共通关键：通常都是年轻或正有机会面 临生涯年的球员，会在交易中被提出（2006 年的 Tigers，Jeremy Bonderman 投 出代表作，而阵中亦有 Curtis Granderson、Justin Verlander 等大将）。这些（？） 让蓝杰伦的 2010 年球季有了一点希望，尽管少了几个大咖，蓝杰伦还是有几个 年轻小伙子。Travis Snider、Adam Lind、2nd Ricky Romero、4th Marc Rzepczynski 以及留下的 Jesse Litsch。这些新秀以外的老球员并没有特别的令人印象深刻， 也不像那些传奇球队的台柱（Reds 的 Frank Robinson、Vada Pinson；Red Sox 的燕姿、George Scott、Tony Conigliaro；Mets 的 Seaver、Koosman）蓝杰伦 现在则有即将完成的 Brett Wallace、年轻的新秀 Snider、正在成长的 Lind、 很不错且年轻的二垒手 Aron Hill，只是没什麽大咖级的而已。这样的组合可能 会发生很多种结果，也或许能将蓝杰伦推上五成大关。但请记得，这些小伙子当 初是被赶着上大联盟的，因此这几年来蓝杰伦的农场的贫乏也常被人笑话。 Winning now is never likely, but as the "miracle teams" analysis shows, even in Toronto it's possible. The biggest problem, perhaps, is that management has not embraced the concept. The Jays are appropriately rank outsiders, maybe 60-1 or more to win the division. But it's something. 胜利当然是不可能的，但有了那些传奇球队的例子，或许蓝杰伦其实是有点机会。 最大的问题或许会出在 GM 是否愿意相信并尝试。蓝杰伦当然不是很强力的竞争 者，但总也是一个竞争者。 3. Where are the biggest losses? Marco Scutaro performed well for the Jays last season and will be hugely missed. And certainly no loss comes bigger than Roy Halladay, the talismanic leader of the Jays and the league's best starting pitcher of the decade. Another loss, entirely unheralded but perhaps equally damaging, came when Brad Arnsberg, who has been the Jays' pitching coach for five seasons (2005-2009), left on Oct. 30, 2009 to take the pitching coach position with the Astros. Houston, you're getting a good one. Arnsberg has been nothing short of a revelation to a longtime Jays watcher who has over many years watched the team systematically destroy its young base of arms through experimentation, neglect, carelessness and cluelessness. Arnsberg always had a plan; for example, he rarely if ever brought a young starter to the majors if he thought he wasn't ready, but he reached innumerable times into Double-A for arms that few if any followers of the team had ever heard of, and turned them instantly into average major league starters. He did it with Gustavo Chacin in his first season; did it with Casey Janssen, Shaun Marcum, then Litsch, then Rzepczynski and Romero (whose career in the minors was going nowhere fast). He even got some good starts out of Ty Taubenheim. In the meantime, he took waiver-wire journeymen from Scott Downs and Brian Tallet to Jesse Carlson and Shawn Camp, and helped make them into good major league relievers. In almost every case Arnsberg did it with old-fashioned values; he got his players to work harder and get physically stronger; to be more aggressive with hitters and to work to preserve their stamina on the mound. It helped immensely, of course, to be able to point to "Exhibit H", the ultimate example of dedication, hard work and focus sitting next to them in the locker room. But Arnsberg has developed fine young pitchers in his earlier stints as well. There are pitchers, good ones, up and down both leagues who rave about what Arnsberg has done for their games. Arnsberg's Marlins staff thought of him in the same light, more than a mere coach, during his tenure there. The Jays' new regime, since they don't understand the value of a good coach outside his ability to drink and play cards with the manager, let Arnsberg go without a fight. Jim Bouton and Jim Brosnan, amongst others, have identified two distinct types of coaches in baseball: teachers intent on imparting the best knowledge they can find to their pupils the players; and backslappers whose strongest skill is playing the manager's favorite card games, but not too well, and telling his men "don't think too much out there, son." Arnsberg's replacement as pitching coach is the bullpen coach, Bruce "Pappy" Walton; Walton has worked with Arnsberg these last few years but the reader receives no points for guessing which type of coach best describes a man who has earned the nickname "Pappy." Walton may turn out to be Arnsberg's equal, but they got less than 50 percent value: a sure thing in the hand versus a single shadow lurking in the bush. 4. Who are the younger players to watch? I would identify one player on each side of the ball as keys to the Jays' season. The first is the young 22-year-old outfielder Travis Snider. Snider has impressed me with his approach since coming to the team; he looked a bit lumpish and oafish as a 20-year-old rookie (though one with a very impressive bat). He has since lost some of that football weight and looks positively trim by comparison. Snider had some problems adapting to the pitching last year and fought a bad slump (.192 in 54 PA with only one extra-base hit) before being sent down in May; he returned in August and hit much better; the last 32 days of the season he had 110 PA and posted an OPS of .851, directly in line with expectations. Snider's continued development is of extreme interest because of the power potential he brings to a lineup that often has underperformed in that aspect. The pitcher is Romero, the former high first-round pick out of East Los Angeles by way of the great baseball program at Cal State-Fullerton. Romero was drafted as a lefty with immense promise but while he remained lefthanded, the promise seemed to leach away from him during his first years in the minors. Brought to major league camp at the beginning of last season, Arnsberg helped change his approach radically, and Romero took off and attacked the league like it was Illinois Nazis, compiling 13 brilliant starts. Then the "dark side" to the Arnsberg/Gaston regime began to show itself; Romero threw six long, punishing starts in a row in the space of 26 days in the summer heat of late June and early July, and he wasn't the same pitcher for the rest of the year, posting a 5.52 ERA after a 3.00 ERA before then. Romero could potentially come back and nail down that No. 2 starter berth and be one of the AL's best. 5. What was it like? Blue Jays fans should remember that question, because that is what your grandchild who loves baseball may well ask you one day. Fix it in your mind, and fix your answer while the memories are fresh. Because it was awe-inspiring. The Doc Show was like nothing else I have ever seen, and I seriously doubt I will ever see the likes of it again, because the combination of qualities that went into making Roy Halladay are just unlikely to emerge here for a very, very long time. Although a starting pitcher only takes the mound once every five days (and therefore can't provide the day-to-day on-field leadership role of a position player) Halladay occupied a similar role to Wendel Clark's iconic role that is seemingly imprinted in this city's (indeed, this country's) civic memory. Roy's virtues, it is widely felt, are our virtues, at least the public virtues we profess to admire; and therefore are those most widely admired in a public figure. Consistency, dedication, hard work, indomitability, determination to succeed and to improve oneself. He never put a foot wrong, in any way, on or off the field. If you've ever had a job, a difficult one that demands your care and pay attention all the time, without relent, and where you were always in competition with others, you can relate to the object lesson that Roy Halladay provides you with in professionalism and in dedication. Halladay was the archetype, an athlete that you could, realistically, call a role model. He will be missed. When I see a pitch delivered on a string, right to the mitt, on 0-2 this summer, I will think of him. What was it like? It was beautiful. -- 先翻一个 我想这篇文章蓝鸟迷应该很有感触吧 谁要接力呢?? --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.119.29.11 ※ 编辑: kimifort 来自: 140.119.29.11 (04/02 11:45) 你这样讲好像我不得不翻了 那些 comment 我一开始的确有想过是不是要翻 至於 emotion 的部分 虽然不是很有建设性 但至少可以让板友知道这些底层球队的压力和难堪 如果没意外的话大概三小时後会继续动手翻译 又或者半夜吧~ ※ 编辑: kimifort 来自: 140.119.29.11 (04/02 13:43) ※ 编辑: kimifort 来自: 140.119.29.11 (04/03 15:27)