※ 引述《jayin07 (Hal YeahHhhHhhh!!)》之銘言：
: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/five-questions-pittsburgh-pirates5/
: Five questions: Pittsburgh Pirates
: by Charlie Wilmoth
We're here to discuss five questions, but there's no question that the 2009
Pirates will set a dubious record by posting their 17th losing season in a
row, the longest such skid in the history of American professional sports.
: 雖然我們在這探討五個問題，但還是會創下連17季進不了季後賽的紀錄。
losing season是指敗多勝少的球季，相對的，winning season則是勝多敗少。
The good news is that this long period of futility is largely the fault of
front office figures who have long since departed,
: 不過好消息是FO以前弄出來的爛攤子過去了
應該是說，這個爛攤子是那些早已離開的FO成員搞出來的。
The Pirates dealt Jason Bay and Xavier Nady near the trading deadline last
year, and their outfield has been in flux ever since.
: 海盜去年在交易截止之前就將Bay和Nady送走，而他們的外野陣容就從那個時候起瓦解
應該只是說外野陣容一直在變動，沒有瓦解的意思。
(although he probably isn't as bad as most statistics indicate, either)
: (雖然他在數據上也沒這麼差)
這句話是說，他可能也沒有大部分數據顯示出來的那麼差。
McCutchen is the best prospect to come through the Pirates' system in several
years. That says as much about the Pirates' farm system as it says about
McCutchen,
: McCutchen是近年海盜農場最好的新秀。他們談到海到農場的時候，總會想到他
不是說談到海盜農場總會想到他，而是說上一句話不只可以拿來說明McCutchen，
也是海盜農場的最佳寫照。言外之意是說，McCutchen都可以說是數年來農場最好
的新秀，那這個農場的好壞也可想而知。
but McCutchen should still be a solid regular, at least. He brings
: 但是McCutchen至少要成為一個稱職的先發球員。
但是再怎麼說，McCutchen應該至少還會是可靠的先發。
Nyjer Morgan, a 28-year-old minor league vet with good speed but no power
or understanding of how to play the game
: Nyjer Morgan，一個28歲、有著優秀的速度但是沒有power的小聯盟球員，不過
: 他知道如何比賽中該做什麼
應該是no "power" or "understanding of how to play the game"
也就是說他沒有power也缺乏understanding of how to play the game
will prevent the Pirates from having to use the likes of Yoslan Herrera
or John Van Benschoten in their rotation or to allow a plainly-injured
Tom Gorzelanny to pitch 105 innings, as they did in 2008.
: 預期可以吃下Yoslan Herrera、John Van Benschoten的空缺，或是像去年接管
: Tom Gorzelanny受傷後的局數。
應該不只是吃下空缺，而是將會避免他們又把Herrera、Van Benschoten這一類的
球員放在先發輪值裡面。
The other problems that appeared when he was with the Pirates, such as
poor defense and swinging at bad pitches may have arisen out of his
frustration with his sudden inability to hit the ball hard.
: 他的另一個問題是在他海盜發生的，守備表現不好、打擊的時候去揮壞球，
: 可能會導致他有挫折感，讓他沒辦法結實的咬中球。
這個因果關係可能搞錯了，原文是說可能因為突然打不遠所產生的挫折感，讓他守
不好，又揮了一堆不該揮的球。
The Pirates' management has a lot riding on LaRoche's future and undoubtedly
hopes that his struggles with the Bucs were purely the result of injury and
not an early peak.
: 即使LaRoche因傷表現不如預期，海盜的教練團還是對LaRoche的潛力有極大的肯定。
對海盜的管理階層來說，LaRoche 的未來關係甚大，而他們毫無疑問的希望他在海盜
的掙扎是因為受傷而不是因為peak比一般球員來得更早。
The Pirates' front office, headed by team president Frank Coonelly and
general manager Neal Huntington, appears to be pursuing the only plan that
will work for a low-payroll team.
: 海盜制服組的大頭目Frank Coonelly、指揮官Neal Huntington，顯然只有一個計畫
: ，就是打造一個low-payroll的球隊。
海盜的FO顯然正遵循著對一支low-payroll的球隊來說唯一可行的計畫。
If the Pirates are to succeed, they must have a good core of young talent
they can control cheaply, and they finally appear to understand this.
: 如果海盜的策略奏效的話，他們就能用低成本讓農場長滿漂亮的農作物。
: 顯然，他們終於知道要這樣做了。
如果海盜想要成功，他們必須要有一群能便宜控制的年輕核心球員，而他們好像總算
知道這一點了。
There are three potential problems that could befall the new administration
even if the prospects they're developing do pan out.
: 不過制服組的計畫要是成功了，會有三個潛在問題降臨。
不過就算這些新秀都真的長成了，海盜的新管理階層還是要面對三個可能發生的問題
In defense of the Pirates' ownership, their willingness to spend on the draft
and the Dominican facility are great signs, and the Bucs' honchos have said,
very reasonably, that it doesn't make sense to raise payroll until there's a
competitive core in place.
: 他們把錢花在Dominican facility和選秀上是很好的補強，而海賊頭子明確說了在他
: 們沒有足夠的競爭力之前，沒有理由把pay-roll提高。
替海盜的老闆說句話，他們願意在選秀與多明尼加花錢是很好的跡象，而海盜老闆說在
球隊具有競爭力的核心球員到位之前沒有道理提高薪資總額也非常合理。
It would, of course, be silly for the current Pirates to sign a bunch of
expensive veterans (few of whom would be willing to play for the Pirates
right now anyway), who would likely require long-term deals that would be
liabilities by the next time the Bucs could be competitive, and so the
ownership is right to avoid boosting the payroll just to prove they can.
: 沒有足夠的競爭力之前，沒有理由把pay-roll提高。沒錯，把大把鈔票拿去簽昂貴
: 的資深球員很蠢，誰會拿長約去綁球員然後讓自己負債到有競爭力的時候？所以海
: 盜頭子去避免提高payroll，用農場的證明他們可以有競爭力。
當然，要是現在的海盜去簽一堆昂貴的資深球員（其中還只有少數人願意在這個時
候來海盜隊打球）是很蠢的事情，他們顯然都會要求一張到海盜可能有競爭力的時
候會成為負債的長約，所以海盜隊沒有為了證明他們能花錢就提高薪資總額是正確
的。
Another potential snag that could catch the Pirates' long-term plan might
come from those same fans, many of whom have already turned on Huntington and
Coonelly. As Wilbur Miller has pointed out, the more Huntington and Coonelly
distinguish themselves from Littlefield, the angrier the fans get, which is
ironic, since Littlefield is arguably the person most responsible for the
Pirates' current predicament. Littlefield left the organization in utter
disrepair, from the major league team all the way down to rookie ball.
另一個可能打擊海盜長期計畫的前在障礙也許是來自同樣的這群球迷，他們其中的
許多人已經轉而與Huntington和Coonelly敵對。就像 Wilbur Miller已經指出的，
Huntington與Coonelly越是將他們自己與 Littlefield區別開來，球迷們反而越生
氣，這很諷刺，因為Littlefield 可以說是要為海盜目前窘境負上最大責任的人。
Littlefield 讓這支球隊完全荒廢，從大聯盟開始一路到新人聯盟都一樣。
It took Andrew Friedman two and a half years to fix the Rays, and Friedman
had the benefit of a very good farm system to work with. Huntington and
Coonelly inherited a Rays-like situation at the major league level and one
of the worst farm systems in baseball. Fans were furious with Huntington
and Coonelly after they'd been on the job less than a year, and it's going
to take at least a couple more before the Pirates show real progress in
the majors. These next two years will be very tough for the Pirates, and
the ownership needs to have the resolve to stick with the plan.
Andrew Friedman 花了兩年半修補光芒隊，而Friedman還得益於有一個優秀的農場
系統供他使用。Huntington和Coonelly則繼承了一個在大聯盟等級與光芒有類似處
境的球隊，以及一個大聯盟最糟糕的農場系統。在Huntington和Coonelly接手不到
一年後，球迷就開始對他們感到憤怒，而在海盜展現出真正的進展之前還需要至少
兩年以上的時間。接下來的這兩年對海盜來說將是非常困難的時期，球隊老闆必須
要有堅守計畫的決心。
A third potential area of concern that might prevent the Pirates from
achieving their goals is that Huntington and Coonelly's skills as evaluators
of talent haven't yet been tested. The most important players they've
acquired so far