ESPN - Jayson Stark http://0rz.tw/vUjDR Now or never for current crop of Rays 还在队上的Rays球员，他们只有现在了 PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- They live in the Land of the Giants, surrounded by big-buck behemoths in the toughest division in baseball. So even as you watch the 2010 Tampa Bay Rays prepare to unleash the most talented baseball team they've ever had, you also have to wonder: What will become of them? 他们生活的地方是巨人之地，在这竞争最激烈的分区中充满了有钱的怪物。 在你看着2010年的Rays准备要展现他们有史以来最有天分的阵容时，你也该想想，接下来 他们会怎麽样？ Where will Carl Crawford be a year from now? Where will Carlos Pena be? Even more importantly, where will this franchise be? Oh, it's not as if the Rays are about to move to Vegas or San Antonio or Oklahoma City. Or even to Tampa, for that matter. They never beat those drums. They never mouth those threats. 明年Carl Crawford会在哪里？Carlos Pena会在哪里？最重要的：这支球队会去哪里？ 喔，这不是说Rays正要搬去赌城或San Antonio，或是OKC。也不是要到Tampa。他们从 来没有大肆宣传，没有讲过这些威胁人的话。 But that doesn't mean they don't wonder where this is leading. They finished 23rd in the big leagues in attendance last season, barely outdrawing teams like the Nationals and Royals. They came off a World Series dream season, hoping that this was how fans were made. And you know how many more paying customers they drew? A whopping 903 more a game. They couldn't even average 20,000 fans a game for a World Series rematch against the Phillies. They drew 17,692 people for a September date with the Red Sox. They would have needed to pull in an extra 7,000 paying customers a night just to approach the major league average. 但这不代表他们没想过接下来事情会怎麽发展。他们去年的观众数在大联盟是第23名，只 赢过一些像国民和皇家这些队伍。他们刚结束一个梦幻的World Series赛季，希望球迷会 因此而来。 你知道他们多了多少球迷吗？超多的每场903人。 他们和费城人的WS後第一次系列战甚至没办法超过平均两万人。和红袜在九月的对战只有 17692人。他们每晚至少要多7000位球迷进场才能达到联盟票房平均。 So no wonder owner Stuart Sternberg has already announced the Rays will be lopping payroll next year. No wonder Crawford is already practically being fitted for his new uniform in the Bronx. No wonder this team traded away Scott Kazmir last August while it was in the middle of a wild-card race. "It's just the world we live in," says manager Joe Maddon. "It's how it's going to be every year. We want to win the World Series … but our peripheral vision has got to be on the future at all times." And since that's their world, the folks who run this team ought to join the circus -- because they lead the league in juggling. "We talk about this a lot," says the executive vice president for baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, "having to keep one eye on the present year and one eye on the future." 所以不用意外老板Stuart Sternberg已经宣布明年的payroll会大幅降低。也不用意外 Crawford已经在试穿他的新条纹衣制服。也不意外去年八月抢外卡时他们却把Scott Kazmir交易出去。 西瓜：「这世界就是这样。每年都是如此。我们想拿到冠军，但我们的眼角余光却得一直 注意着未来。」 也因为他们的世界是如此，这支球队的经营者也要跳进这马戏团才行──因为他们比联盟 中任何球队都会杂耍 棒球部副主席Andrew Friedman说：「我们常常在讨论这个。必须一边注意今年一边放 眼未来。」 So while no one likes to say these words or think these thoughts, the Rays are about to launch the most important season in the 13-season history of the franchise. On the field. Off the field. On the field, they're one of the half-dozen best teams in baseball. But their window to win with this group expires before they flip the calendar to 2011. Off the field, they're quietly pondering what they need to do to survive in a community where not even a World Series team has turned out to be a force magnetic enough to pull fans into their ballpark. 虽然没人想讨论或想这些东西，但Rays今年准备好要开始他们13年历史中最重要的一个 赛季。场上和场外。 在场上，他们是六支最强的球队之一。但他们要赢的机会顶多到今年。在场外，他们正 静静的想这要怎麽在一块连进World Series都无法吸引球迷进场的地区生存。 So this is the unique vise they find themselves locked in -- squeezed by the present and the future, by the Yankees and the Red Sox, by the white lines and the bottom lines. "We don't have to shoot the moon," says team president Matt Silverman. "But a lot of things have to go right for us to be able to succeed. That's the reality of 2010." 这就他们被夹得死死的地方。现在和未来、洋基和红袜、打球和赚钱。 球队主席Matt Silverman说：「我们不用异想天开。但我们要走好运才能成功，这就是 2010年的现实情形。」 OK, here's another reality of 2010: The Rays have never had players like Crawford and Pena before. Ever. OK，这里是另一样2010年的现实情形。Rays从来没有像Crawford和Pena一样的球员。从来 没有。 Oh, they've had stars before. But they've never had a player quite like Crawford. Drafted by this franchise 11 years ago at age 17, before the franchise had even won its first 100 games. Developed, nurtured, sculpted by this team into one of the most dynamic stars in baseball. Played his entire big-league career with the Rays. And now, almost surely, about to exit through a free-agent trap door -- unless he gets traded first. 喔，他们有过明星，但他们从来没有像Crawford一样的球员。 在这支队伍连通算百胜都还没拿到时，11年前在17岁时被选上。在队伍的栽培下成长、茁 壮，成为球场上最具爆发力的明星之一。一直以来都在Rays。而现在，几乎保证要从FA的 小门溜走──除非他先被交易掉。 And then there's Pena. The Rays have imported future free agents before, too. But they've never had a player quite like this guy, either. Grabbed off the scrap heap three years ago, his career at rock bottom. Then turned everything around -- not just his career but his new franchise along with it. And now, here he is at age 31, as popular and visible a face as this team has ever had, as he prepares to bolt for the free-agent auction house. 然後还有Pena。Rays签过FA，但他们从来没有像这样的一位球员。 三年前从沙砺中挖出的珍珠，从他生涯的最低潮。然後就完全不一样了。不只是他的事业 ，也包括他的新球队。现在他31岁了，就像他的这只球队有过一些选手的高知名度一样， 他也准备跳进这个FA的拍卖会。 Maddon talks regularly about how "I want to keep both these guys." Friedman says all the speculation about the inevitability of losing them is "premature." But how hard is it to see where this is heading? 西瓜常常在说：「我想把他们两位留下来。」Friedman说现在下定论他们走定了还太早。 不过谁看不出来事情会怎麽发展？ This team can't outbid the Yankees for Crawford. And Pena is a Scott Boras client. So nobody pretends not to hear their clock ticking. "I've been here so long," says Crawford, "it's scary sometimes having to think of going to another place. … But at the same time, you have to grow up, and it's part of growing up. You can't be afraid. It's like living with your parents your whole life. When it's time to go out on your own, you can't be afraid to take that first step." 这只球队没办法比洋基花更多钱在Crawford身上。而Pena是Boras的客户。所以没人在假 装不去注意他们的日子不多了。 Crawford说：「我待这里很久了。有时想到要离开是满可怕的。但同时人必须要成长，而 这是成长的一部分。你不能害怕。就像不能和父母住一辈子一样。当该离开时，不能害怕 去踏下第一步。」 Pena, meanwhile, admits he is already savoring what appear to be his final days with the only team where he has ever truly fit. "I don't take anything for granted," he says. "Even that first year of my contract, I was at the point like, 'Wow, bro. Appreciate this.' And that's my attitude every day. It's not going to last forever. So cherish it. Enjoy it. Bring the best of you every day, 'cause that's what it's all about." 在这同时，Pena承认他已经在细细品尝他在这只真正属於他的队伍的最後时光。 他说：「我不把任何事看成是理所当然。即使在我合约的第一年，我便在想：『好好珍惜 』而这是我每天的生活态度。天底下没有不散的宴席，所以要懂得珍惜，享受。每天都表 现出最好的一面，因为本来就是这样。」 (待续) --

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