Re: [新聞] Boras calls all the shots for his cl …

看板A-Rod作者lakerbuster (薄倖平生唯反覆)時間16年前 (2007/09/29 17:41)推噓13(13推 0噓 2→)

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SCOTT BORAS wants you to know that it's not all about the money. For baseball's most successful capitalist, money flows from performance. And performance is the result of talent plus information. Boras supplies both: His information aids his talent, and his talent performs. And because of that, Boras is a very rich man. Five-percent-skim-of-$2-billion rich. Prime-seats-in-Anaheim-Los-Angeles-San-Diego-San-Francisco-and-Oakland rich. An-Orange-County-mountaintop-mansion-with-a-clear-view-of-the-Pacific rich. Boras要你知道這不全是為了錢。對棒球最成功的資本家來說，錢是伴隨著表現而來的。表現則是天分加上資訊的結果，Boras兩樣都有：他的資訊幫助他的天分，他的天分則好好表現。因此，Boras是個非常有錢的人。他有二十億美元抽成5％那樣的有錢，天使、教士、巨人、運動家隊主場都擁有頭等席那樣的有錢，有橘郡山頂豪宅可清楚眺望太平洋景景致那樣的有錢。 Boras knows there are 252 million reasons you probably hate him already. He knows nobody roots for a man who negotiates between millionaires and billionaires. If you follow the conventional wisdom about him -- and he figures you do -- you believe he1s a greedy snake-oil salesman, the Darth Vader of Baseball, the Ruination of the National Pastime. Boras知道你可能有兩億五千兩百萬個恨他的理由。他知道沒有人會支持一個在百萬富翁和億萬富翁之間斡旋的人。如果你像他所猜的，對他抱持著一般人關於他的觀感，你會認為他是個貪婪、滿嘴謊言的推銷員、棒球世界裡的黑武士（星際大戰電影中的反派）、國家休閒運動的毀滅者。 He knows you blame him for your $65 ticket, your $20 parking fee and your $8 beer, but especially for spiriting your favorite player away from your favorite team over a few million dollars and a no-trade clause. 他知道你因為得付65美元的門票、20美元的停車費和8美元的啤酒而恨他,，但你最恨的是他為了幾百萬美金和不得交易條款，把你最喜歡的球員從你最喜歡的球隊中擄走。 Gary Barber/ALLSPORT The offseason is Scott Boras' time to be in the spotlight. In three decades as a baseball agent -- he still does only baseball -- the 54-year-old Boras has made your favorite player his player, a valued member of the Scott Boras All-Stars. He rents his players out to individual clubs for the most money the market will bear, but he wants you to know that he does so with the intention of making sure each member of his club plays longer and better than those who don't get with the program. The Tigers genuflected before him and came away with Pudge Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez and Kenny Rogers -- and look who made it to the World Series last year. The Red Sox? They have six Boras guys, including Jason Varitek and Daisuke Matsuzaka, and the club is headed for its fourth postseason in five years. The Yankees? Team Boras1 franchise player is their third baseman. For now. 當了三十年的棒球經紀人，他還是只做棒球。54歲的Boras將你最喜歡的球員變成「他的」球員，納為「Boras明星隊」裡重要的一員。他將旗下的球員「租」給市場上出價最高的球團。但他想要你瞭解：他這樣做是為了確保他旗下的球員比其他球員打得久、打得長。老虎隊在他面前屈膝跪拜，因而得到了Pudge Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez,和Kenny Rogers。所以你看看去年誰進了世界大賽。至於紅襪隊呢？他們隊上有六個Boras旗下的成員，包括了Jason Varitek, 松阪大輔。因此紅襪正朝五年裡的第四個季後賽邁進。洋基隊呢？Boras隊上的紅牌球員是他們的三壘手，至少目前還是。 See, from his perch high above the Pacific Ocean, Scott Boras isn't ruining baseball. He's running it. 所以你看，從他高眺太平洋的巢穴中，Boras不是在毀滅棒球運動，他是在管理棒球運動。 BEFORE HE drove a Range Rover or authored the richest contract in pro sports history, Boras milked cows and drove a tractor on his father's dairy farm in Elk Grove, Calif., in the flatlands south of Sacramento. He wasn't even the best athlete in his family; that was older brother Jim Jr., who was all-state in football. Scott grew up dreaming of baseball, which in the rural America of the 1960s was still the beloved national sport. He was a second baseman, just good enough to keep the Dream alive. He was small, slow and suspect in the field. But he batted .288 in his four-year minor league career, not too shabby for a kid who spent his off-seasons studying industrial pharmacology at the University of the Pacific. Baseball wouldn't last forever, not for a guy with bum knees and cement hands. Marketing new drugs and medical treatments -- there was a future in that. 在他開始開Range Rover豪華休旅車和創造出職業運動史上最肥的合約之前，Boras是在他老爸位於加州沙加緬度南部的平原Elk Grove的農場養牛、開牽引機。他甚至不是家中最好的運動員，最好的是他老哥Jim Jr.，州明星美式足球員。Boras從小就做棒球夢，當時棒球在60年代的美國鄉下地區仍是受歡迎的國家運動。他那時是二壘手，身手表現還足以維繫棒球夢。Boras個頭小、動作慢、不甚可靠。但他在小聯盟的四年生涯中打擊率是 .288。對一個季外還要在太平洋大學修工業藥理學的小子來講，這成績不算太壞。但對一個膝傷手傷的人來說，打棒球不是永遠的事業。行銷新藥品和療法比較有遠景。 "Stay in school, Boras," he heard somebody growl during batting practice one day in 1976. "You're not that good." The voice belonged to the chain-smoking manager of the Lakeland Tigers. Boras, playing for the St. Petersburg Cardinals, was chasing the Class-A Florida State League batting crown, but the Tigers had an authentic star second baseman in Lou Whitaker. "You can't take him, Boras. He's better than you." Boras knew the voice was right. He was hard work, but Whitaker was talent. And talent always wins. Boras struck out three times that day. He didn't win the batting crown. The Dream died. He hung up his spikes and went to law school at Pacific, although he still collected a salary from the Cubs during his first year, while recovering from his third knee surgery. 「待在學校，Boras!」1976年的一天，Boras在打擊練習時聽到有人對他這樣大喊。「你不夠好。」這聲音來自Lakeland Tigers的老煙槍總教頭。替聖彼得堡紅雀隊效力的Boras 當時正在競逐Class-A佛州聯盟的打擊王。但是Tigers有Lou Whitaker這個正牌的二壘手球星。「你趕不過他的，Boras，他比你行。」Boras知道這個聲音是正確的。他是努力型，可是Whitaker是天才型。天才總是會贏。 Boras那天被三振三次。他沒有拿到打擊王，棒球夢碎了。他高掛釘鞋，去太平洋大學學法律。但他第一年仍然拿小熊隊的薪水，同時休養復原他的第三次膝傷。 Had a knack for negotiation, it turns out. 結果他發現，自己有協商談判的才能。 His friends and teammates already knew that, and they figured their buddy in law school could help them sell their careers. First it was a Sacramento kid named Mike Fischlin, then Keith Hernandez, a budding star for the Cardinals. 他的朋友和隊友當時就知道了。他們忖度著這個學法律的伙伴可以幫助他們推銷自己的事業。第一個客戶是來自沙加緬度名叫Mike Fischlin的小子。再來是紅雀隊的新星Keith Hernandez。 Boras was just helping out a few friends, including his old spring-training roommate, Claude Crockett, who'd turned him on to James Brown and Luther Vandross. After getting his law degree, in 1982, Boras hung out a shingle as a medical lawyer representing new products. He also discovered that selling ballplayers was just like selling a new drug: Armed with the right data, he could set the price. He held his ground, sold hard and got his buddies paid. Buckets and bags of money. Boras那時只是幫幾個朋友的忙，包括他春訓時的老室友Claude Crockett。Crockett又把 Boras介紹給James Brown和Luther Vandross。在1982年拿到法律學位後，Boras以代表新產品的醫藥律師身份掛牌。他也發現推銷球員跟推銷新藥的手法如出一轍：只要具備正確的資訊，他就可以定立價格。他堅守立場、努力推銷、替朋友們賺進一大袋一大袋的錢。 So he changed careers and made baseball his business. He focused on top prospects heading into the amateur draft, and in 1984 he got pitcher Tim Belcher $150,000 when few signing bonuses had reached six figures since the draft's inception in 1965. He exploited a series of loopholes that eventually drove bonuses into the millions of dollars, driving owners to distraction. But money wasn't his only motive. This was also about baseball, about pure love for the perfect Greg Maddux cut fastball or Bernie Williams gliding catch. Boras needed everyone to see just how good his team was. 所以他轉換跑道，把棒球變成他的商業活動。他專注在業餘選秀上的頭號潛力球員。1984 年他替投手Tim Belcerh掙得十五萬美元的簽約金，自1965年首次選秀以來，很少有簽約金達到六位數。他利用一連串的漏洞最後將簽約金提到數百萬元，幾乎把球隊老闆們逼瘋。但錢不是他的唯一動機，棒球也是。他也是因為純粹熱愛Greg Maddux的完美切球和 Bernie Williams的滑壘接殺美技而做的。Boras要每個人知道他的「隊伍」有多棒。 And he loved to find raw talent. That's how he happened to be in Monterrey, Mexico, in the summer of 1992, for the World Junior Baseball Championships. He was there to see a Brazilian pitching prospect, but instead he spotted the kid. He looks like a German shepherd puppy, Boras thought. Hands and feet too big for his body. The kid, of course, was a tall, lanky, 16-year-old shortstop from Miami named Alex Rodriguez. 他也很愛搜尋未經琢磨的天才球員。所以1992年的夏天，他才會出現在在 Monterrey,Mexico舉行的世界青棒賽。他去看一個巴西的投手新秀，但是卻發現了另一個小子。Boras覺得這小子看來像隻德國牧羊幼犬，有著與身體不相稱的大手和大腳。這小夥子，當然就是高高瘦瘦、年方16、來自邁阿密的游擊手Alex Rodriguez。 Boras says he knew Rodriguez would be a superstar the first time they spoke. The agent told the kid he used to be a ballplayer too, but his Dream had died, and now he represented ballplayers. All he wanted was a few minutes to explain why Rodriguez should think about getting ready for his Dream. Boras說他和阿肉第一次談話，就知道他將來會成為一個巨星。這個經紀人跟阿肉說自己以前也是個球員，但他的棒球夢已經逝去了，現在他是球員的代理人。他只需要幾分鐘跟阿肉說明為什麼他認為阿肉該準備追尋他的棒球夢。 Because he might need help with that. Young A-Rod wanted information: "What's Ken Griffey Jr. like? What makes him such a great hitter?" He was voracious, like Boras, and precocious. Usually prospects were shy, unable to comprehend their futures. Not this kid. He trusted the information. Filed it away. Consumed it. After four hours of talking in a Mexican hotel lobby, Boras had to send the kid to bed. "Let's meet again," Rodriguez said. 他追尋的過程中可能需要幫忙。年輕的阿肉渴求資訊：「Ken Griffey Jr.是個怎樣的人？他如何能成為這麼棒的打者？」跟Boras一樣，阿肉很有野心，而且他很早熟。通常潛力球星都畏畏縮縮的，無法理解自己的未來。但這小子不一樣。他相信這些資訊，把它們整理起來，加以吸收。在墨西哥一家飯店的大廳談了四小時以後，Boras得把阿肉趕去睡覺。「我們再找個時間見面。」阿肉說。 If this kid was destined to break the big records, the ones that hold for decades, he'd have to be strong, flexible, indefatigable. Boras could keep him healthy, help him handle the Dream. 如果這小伙子注定要打破高懸幾十年偉大的紀錄，他得夠強壯、夠有韌性、耐得住疲勞。 Boras有辦法讓他保持健康，幫助他追尋夢想。 As a former player, Boras believed that owners didn't invest enough in their talent, their product. Teams treated players like replaceable parts. They had pitchers and shortstops do the same training, the same lifting and stretching. It didn't make sense. The teams didn't start teaching players how to stay healthy and fit until they were men, which shaved years off performance. Not for this kid, Boras told himself. 身為一個前任球員，Boras認為球隊老闆在潛力球員，他們的「產品」上投資不夠。球隊把球員當成可替換的零件。他們讓投手和游擊手受一樣的訓練，一樣的舉重和伸展訓練。這完全沒道理。在球員還沒長為成人前，球隊都沒教他們如何保持健康，使得職業生涯減短。 Boras告訴自己，同樣的事不會發生在這小子身上 --- 真的很長XD，待續。有錯請指正 -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 59.117.40.115

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