來源: The New York Times
網址: http://tinyurl.com/y6vuteej
How the Astros Built a Contender From the Ground Up
到底太空人是怎麼打掉重練的?
HOUSTON — His bumbling team was 40 games under .500. Eleven times, the
Houston Astros had pushed a game into extra innings. Eleven times, they had
lost. This was an August morning in 2012, and few fans would show up to
Minute Maid Park later that night. The Astros would be shut out and lose for
the 25th time in 28 games.
他的隊伍那時距離五成勝率還差40場。11次太空人把比賽打進延長，但是11次都輸掉。那
時是2012年八月的早上，沒有甚麼球迷會要來看那天晚上的比賽。那場比賽太空人被完
封，近28場比賽輸了25場。
From his office beyond left field, in a converted train station on Crawford
Street, the team’s new architect made no excuses. Jeff Luhnow, the general
manager, had inherited the worst team in baseball. Fixing it would take time.
He didn’t have much else, but he had that.
Jeff Luhnow，太空人的新總管，坐在左外野外火車站改建的辦公室，他沒有任何的藉
口。太空人是個超級大爛隊，把它搞好需要時間，Luhnow甚麼沒有，就是有時間。
“A lot of clubs get into a situation where you know in your heart that the
team needs to rebuild, but at the same time you want to put a product on the
field that gives the fans some hope for the present,” said Luhnow, who had
been hired from the St. Louis Cardinals the previous winter. “You end up
getting stuck in the middle.”
「很多球隊會陷入一種狀況，就是你知我知大家都知道整隊需要打掉重練，但是又想把一
些好貨放在場上讓球迷有一點希望，」Luhnow說。Luhnow是前一年從紅雀隊聘來的。「這
樣常常會把自己陷在中間，兩邊都不行。」
The Astros wanted no part of the middle. Baseball had just implemented a new
collective bargaining agreement that greatly incentivized losing, giving the
worst teams the most money to spend on amateur talent. The Astros had picked
first in the draft that June, and would do so again in each of the next two
seasons.
太空人一點都不想這樣。有了新的團體協商協議激勵弱隊，讓爛隊有最多的錢可以花在有
希望的球員。那時太空人在六月可以有狀元籤，接下來兩年也是一樣。
Those No. 1 picks — the good and the bad — help shape the story of today’s
Astros, who roll into the Bronx for Game 3 of the American League
Championship Series on Monday after two victories at home.
這些狀元籤