Bernie第二发︰小普的精华已经献给我们了!! http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/ cardinals-got-the-best-years-pujols-had-to-offer/ article_c202431e-5c7f-5432-8aab-1648fbafc151.html http://0rz.tw/Ycxy1 Cardinals Got the Best Years Pujols Had to Offer Albert Pujols is an Angel now, and it doesn't make him the devil. Sorry, but I don't have it in me to rage and rant against Pujols, the Angels or the Cardinals. 小普现在是天使了，这整件事也不会让他变成恶魔。歹势啦，但我无意要责怪或讦谯小普 、天使、或红鸟。 I'm sure others are working up a good sweat while delivering angry sermons that vilify Pujols for being disloyal, ridicule the Cardinals for being cheap or savage the Angels for overpaying an aging star. 我很确定其他人正在拚了命地丑化小普是叛徒、讪笑红鸟很抠、或批评天使把大钱砸在 一个正在老化的球星。 Have at it. Pick your preferred villain and foam at the mouth. I can't join you. I've been temporarily overtaken by common sense. 现在，选择你心目中的坏蛋并展露你的怨恨。可我没办法加入你们，因为我暂时被常识 所蒙蔽了。 I'm genuinely saddened by Pujols' departure because I wanted to believe that he'd be different, that he would stay, that he would fully appreciate what he had here. Cardinals fans and Pujols simply adored each other for the last 11 years. 我着实对小普的离开感到很难过，因为我一直想相信他是与众不同的︰他会留下、他会 完全享受他在这里的一切。这11年来小普和红鸟迷们很单纯地互相景仰。 I sincerely wanted to trust Pujols when he offered this testimony during a 2009 interview: "Do I want to be in St. Louis forever? Of course. People from other teams want to play in St. Louis, and they're jealous that we're in St. Louis because the fans are unbelievable. So why would you want to leave a place like St. Louis to go somewhere else and make $3 million or $4 more million a year? It's not about the money. I already got my money. It's about winning, and that's it." 我曾经想真心真意相信小普於09年的这段誓言︰ "我想永远留在圣路易吗？当然啦。别 队的球员都想来圣路易打球，他们也很嫉妒我们在圣路易，因为这里的球迷实在太棒了 。所以说为什麽你会想为了三、四百万而离开像圣路易这样的地方呢？这跟钱无关，我 已经赚到我该赚的了。一切只是为了赢球，就这样。" In the end, Pujols went for the money. 说了半天，小普还是向钱看。 Pujols got upset at the Cardinals for slow-playing the negotiations, for declining to give him Alex Rodriguez money, for refusing to make early offers that his agent could use as leverage in trying to lure other teams into the poker game. 小普对於红鸟协商进度之缓慢、不给他A-Rod等级的薪水、不提前提出合约以抬价，感到 失望。 We should have seen it coming, and not because Pujols is a bad guy. It's just the reality of the business. With most athletes, it's always about the money. And that's fine. We should have stopped taking this stuff personally a long time ago. 我们早该预见这样的结果，但这并不是因为小普机歪，纯粹只是商场现实。对於大多数 运动员而言，钱才是重点，这没甚麽不对。我们早该停止战这样的话题。 This was Pujols' opportunity of a lifetime, his one true golden shot at free agency. Pujols and his agent, Dan Lozano, didn't realize their ultimate goal of surpassing the A-Rod haul of 10 years and $275 million from the Yankees. But give them credit for coming close. The Angels made Pujols an offer he couldn't refuse. 这是小普人生的契机、他在FA市场的绝佳机会。即使小普和他的经纪人终究没有实现那 份超越A-Rod和洋基间那份十年大约的目标，但也很接近了︰天使给了小普一份他抗拒不 了的合约。 Financially, Pujols is a winner. I think he's lost something special, the chance to retire as the second-greatest Cardinal of all time, just behind Stan Musial and slightly ahead of Bob Gibson. That's all gone now. And maybe that's the way it should be. Now that Pujols has gone to Cali, Musial will permanently own all of the important franchise records. Pujols can't touch them now. 就钱的观点上，小普是赢家。然而我觉得他失去了一样特别的事物，也就是以史上第二 伟大的红鸟人身份退休的机会 (即使赢不了Stan the Man，也稍微领先Bob Gibson) 。 然而现在这都没了，而或许这才是事情应该发展的方向︰因为小普去了加州，Musial将 会永远是这支球队一堆重要纪录的保持者；小普已经和这些纪录无缘了。 Pujols willingly gave up his spot as one of history's inner circle Cardinals and will be viewed as just another athlete. 小普出於自愿地放弃了他在红雀历史的地位，从此以後他便只是 "另一位球员"。 Angels fans will go crazy for Pujols, but he'll never be loved the way he was loved in St. Louis. When he gets old and breaks down, he'll never receive the level of empathy that would have come his way in St. Louis. 天使球迷会为小普疯狂，但他绝对不会像以往在圣路易一样地受宠。当他老了、不行了 ，他也绝不会获得和在圣路易一样程度的同情。 One day Pujols will realize this. (Not that it matters.) If the Angels wanted to give Pujols $254 million over 10 years, I can't blame Pujols for jumping. This is the second-richest player contract in MLB history, and he's earned that status as long as a team was willing to grant it. 总有一天小普会了解的。 (并不是因为这件事很重要) 如果天使想给小普一张254M/10y 的大约，我是不会怪小普跳槽的。毕竟这是大联盟史上第二高的球员合约，只要有球队 愿意提供，这是他应得的。 Pujols can never be Musial, but he isn't LeBron James, either. Pujols gave this city, the franchise and the fans the best 11 years of his career. We were able to see Pujols in his peak form over 11 summers. He played a leading role in winning 40 postseason games, three NL pennants and two World Series. With Pujols as a Cardinal from 2001 through 2011, only the Yankees and Red Sox won more games than St. Louis. 小普永远无法成为Musial，但他也不是LBJ之流 (LBJ︰这样也中枪) 。小普将他生涯最 精华的11年献给了这座城市、这支球队、及这群球迷。我们有幸在这11个盛夏见证普神 的神威。他在40场的季後赛获胜、三次国联冠军、两次WS冠军中扮演着举足轻重的角色 。在小普还在红鸟的这11年中，只有洋基和红袜赢的比红雀多。 It was an impressive, historical run. The Angels and their fans will witness the classic Pujols for a while, maybe get three to five years of the elite-level Pujols. But LA will also see the diminishing-returns phase of Pujols' career, and the Angels will pay the tab. 这是令人难以忘却的历史演进。天使及其球迷们或许还会看到小普三至五年的精湛演出 ，但他们也将会目睹小普的衰退。当然，天使要负责买单。 That's why I can't condemn the Cardinals for holding the line after going as far as they could. They stretched their budget beyond the set limits to offer Pujols a guaranteed 10-year contract worth $210 million. 这也就是为甚麽我无法责怪红雀为何有所坚持。他们为了提供小普一份210M/10y的合约 ，已经算是超出预算了。 I'll say it again: This franchise doesn't have to be ashamed of that offer. It wasn't the best, but it was generous. The Cardinals' offer was also insane. Pujols will be 32 next month. His numbers are slipping. He has a partially torn ligament in his right (throwing) elbow. He limps on wheels that feel the strain of carrying an increasingly thicker body. 我再说一次︰这支球队并不需要为这份合约感到羞愧，即使它不是最大的，但也够慷慨 了。事实上红雀开的合约也够猛了︰小普已经32了，他的数据正在下滑、他的右肘韧带 有撕裂伤、他的跛行显示他那日渐增厚的身材正在对他的身体造成负担。 The decline phase is already under way. Unlike the Cardinals, the Angels have the luxury of easing Pujols into his downside years by using him as a designated hitter. But can he sustain his level of offensive production? For a while, yes. But it won't last. 他已经开始衰退了。反观天使，在小普衰退後可藉由让他担任DH以减轻他的负担。但他 能维持他的进攻水平吗？短期内，是的。但这并不会持久。 Brian Kenny hosts "Clubhouse Confidential," an analysis-based show on the MLB Network. The program recently did a segment on Pujols' likely value over a long-term contract. And this was the conclusion, which is generally echoed by other sabermetric-minded evaluators: Brian Kenny主持 "Clubhouse Confidential"，一个MLB Network的分析节目。该节目日 前针对小普在长期合约後的价值做了个专题报导。而其结论--普遍引起Sabermetric派分 析师回响的结论为︰ "Albert Pujols is an all-time great, and we have him just below Lou Gehrig as the greatest first baseman of all time," Kenny said. "That's high praise. But if you study why big-money deals go bad, he fits the criteria of a deal that will be disappointing. A big slugger on the other side of 30 getting a long-term deal and his underlying components of production are trending down. You can say he'll be the exception, and maybe he will. But the evidence says something different." "小普有着伟大的球员生涯，而我们认为他是史上仅次於铁马的一垒手" Kenny如是说 "这 已是相当高的评价，然而若你去研究为何大合约无法善终，你会发现小普符合令人失望 合约的标准。一个得到大约、年过30的强打者，其生产力正在下降。你可以说他是例外 ，他或许也的确是，但证据显示不同的结果。" The Angels are in better position to absorb the cost of paying Pujols for the inevitable downturn. The Angels already generate more cash than the Cardinals, have a higher payroll than St. Louis and are negotiating a new local TV contract that will lead to a huge spike in revenue. 天使在吸收小普无可避免的衰退所需付出的代价上有着较多优势，毕竟天使赚的比红雀 多、薪资比圣路易多、并且正在商谈一份会带来更多利润的当地电视合约。 The Angels are also poised to tap into a potentially lucrative demographic: the large Hispanic population in Southern California. At this stage, Pujols is a better investment for the Angels than he'd be for the Cardinals. 天使也正准备进军一块肥美的大饼︰南加州那广大的西裔人口。就这情况而言，小普对 天使来说当然是一份较好的投资。 It made little sense for Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. to offer a 10-year contract to Pujols, but he did it anyway. If Pujols' true goal was to be a lifetime Cardinal, the franchise gave him that chance. He declined. 即使对Bill DeWitt Jr.而言，提供小普一份10年合约其实没甚麽道理，但他还是这麽做 了。假使小普的真正目标是成为一个终身红鸟人，球团确实给过他机会，但他拒绝了。 The Cardinals will be a lesser team for a while as they transition to life without Pujols. But they'll ultimately benefit from avoiding the repercussions created by the enormous bulk of Pujols' contract. 在这段没有小普的过渡期中，红雀暂时会是一支小球队。但他们终将会因没有砸大钱在 小普身上而获益。 The Cardinals and their fans were privileged to get the best of Pujols. It truly was an honor. And now the Cardinals and their fans don't have to worry about paying for the worst of Pujols. 红雀和其球迷们曾有这份荣幸欣赏小普最好的一面，这真的是一份荣耀。而现在呢，他 们并不需要烦恼必须将钱花在弱化的小普身上。 If that seems cynical, you shouldn't be shocked. As we learned again on Thursday morning, this is modern baseball. And it can be an awfully cold business. 如果这看起来很愤世嫉俗，你也不用太讶异，毕竟我们已经从周四早上得到教训了︰这 就是现代棒球，而它可以是一份冷酷无情的生意。 -- 好吧，照这样想会不会比较舒服一点XD --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.112.55.66 ※ 编辑: blackpanther 来自: 140.112.55.66 (12/10 00:22)