来源: The USA Today
网址: https://tinyurl.com/y933je65
Do you really need experience to be an MLB manager?
要当MLB教练是"有经验尤佳"吗？
MILWAUKEE — Experience is overrated.
经验这档事是过誉的。
Or so it now seems in baseball, where the idea that big-league managers have
to first toil in the minors or on someone else’s staff is going the way of
complete games. The managers of three of the teams still playing had little
or no on-field training before getting hired, with Craig Counsell and A.J.
Hinch coming out of the front office, and Alex Cora coming out of the TV
booth with a stopover on Hinch’s staff in Houston last year.
或者是现在在棒球界是这样，就像当MLB教练之前要先去小联盟或是当过某人的教练团成员
这种想法就跟投手投球要投九局差不多。目前还在打季后赛的四队，在当总教练之前，有
三队的教练只有很少或甚至没有实地的经验；Craig Counsell跟AJ Hinch是从制服组出来
的，Alex Cora是从电视棚来的，去年才在Hinch的教练团。
“There's different ways to get experience in a job, for a job,” said
Counsell, who was working in the Milwaukee Brewers’ front office when he was
hired in 2015. “Anytime you get the big job, whatever job that is for
anybody, I don't think anybody's ever completely prepared for it. There's
always a learning curve for the big job.
“有很多方式可以在工作里，或是为了某份工作，得到经验，”Counsell说。他在2015年
从酒鬼制服组被聘为总教练。“不管在什么时候得到一份很重要的工作，不管那个工作是
什么，我不认为有人会完全就是准备好了的，对于一份重要的工作都会要有学习曲线
的。”
“But I feel like the experiences I got did prepare me to do this,” added
Counsell, who played for five teams in his 16 years in the majors. “And I
think that's what a lot of teams are saying about the people they're hiring.”
“但是我想我过去的经验帮助我准备好做这工作，”Counsell说，他在16年MLB生涯替五队
打过球。“我认为那是很多队伍现在说到他们想要聘的人的样子。”
The trend began almost a decade ago when Hinch was hired to manage the
Arizona Diamondbacks in May 2009 despite never having coached or managed a
game at any level. Instead, he’d spent his entire post-playing career in the
Diamondbacks’ front office.
这趋势大概是在10年前，2009年，Hinch被聘去做响尾蛇的总教练，他没有任何执教的经
验。相反地，在他离开球员身分后，他都是在响尾蛇的制服组工作。
After being fired in July 2010, Hinch went back to the front office, working
as the San Diego Padres’ vice president of professional scouting. But when
the Houston Astros were looking for a new manager after the 2014 season, they
called on Hinch.
Hinch在2010年七月被开除，他回到制服组，当教士队职业球探部门副主管。但当太色在
2014年球季后开始找总教练，他们找上了Hinch。
By then, other teams had begun warming to the idea that not all managers
needed to have similar resumes. With so much emphasis on analytics, power has
shifted to the front office and lessened the need for that “old-school”
managerial experience. Lineups and in-game moves are now dictated as much by
numbers as they are by feel.
到那个时候，其他各队开始对不是所有总教练都需要有类似资历这种想法比较可以接受，
再加上分析棒球以及球队管理权力逐渐转向制服组，不再像以前那么需要"老学校"那种总
教练经历，先发名单跟比赛中做法都是靠数字，而不是像以前是凭感觉的。
Since then, the Brewers have hired Counsell, the Seattle Mariners took Scott
Servais out of the front office and the New York Yankees lured Aaron Boone
out of the broadcast booth. Cora spent four years as a color analyst for ESPN
and one season as Hinch’s bench coach before the Red Sox named him manager.
从那之后，酒鬼聘了Counsell，水兵把Scott Servais从制服组调出来，洋基把Aaron
Boone从球评位置请来，Cora在ESPN做了四年的分析，一年在Hinch的板凳教练，之后成为
红袜的总教练。
"It’s not the answer key that everybody can just go to the front office and
learn the inner workings of an office and be good at the manager position,”
Hinch said. “But it is a route. And it's proven to be something that there's
valuable lessons to be learned that way, just as there's valuable lessons to
be learned on-the-job training leading a team.
“不是每个人就是去制服组，学习制服组内部运作的方式，然后就会当总教练，那不是标
准答案，”Hinch说。“但是那是一种方式，那证明了那种路径可以学到一些宝贵的经
验，就像可以实地训练学习带领一支队伍也可以学到宝贵的经验一样。”
“I'm not sure there's a perfect way either way,” Hinch added.
“我也不确定哪种方式才是完美的方式，”Hinch说。
To be fair, it’s not as if these teams have plucked guys off the street or
out of beer leagues to manage. Counsell, Boone, Cora – all had long playing
careers, which gave them opportunities to study various managers and how they
went about their jobs.
公平一点来说，不是说球队就可以随便在路上抓个人或是一些小俱乐部球队里抓人就可以
当教练。Counsell，Boone，Cora这三个人，都打过很长的棒球，那给了他们机会去看不同
教练的执教方式，让他们了解教练的工作。
In fact, when the Brewers last made the playoffs, in 2011, Counsell was on
the team but not getting much playing time. So he observed.
事实上，当2011年酒鬼最后一次进季后赛，Counsell是在队上，但是没有多少上场机会，
所以他观察。
“I was doing a lot of the thinking about this stuff because I knew I wasn't
going to play,” he said. “When you're in that stage of your career, you do
put yourself in that position of thinking about what the manager is doing. I
think that's kind of natural for guys that are on the bench at the end of
their career.”
“我花了很多时间思考这些事，因为我知道我不会上场，”他说。“当事业到了一个阶
段，会把自己放在一个位置，思考教练这工作是怎样的。我想那对一些球员在生涯末期是
在坐板凳的人来说是很自然的。”
But is that enough to turn over the keys to a franchise?
但是那些足够来管理一支球队吗?
Boone led the Yankees to the second-best record in baseball in his first
season, but his management of his pitching staff cost the Yankees the AL
Division Series. Maybe that doesn’t happen if he’d spent a year or two on
someone’s bench.
Boone在他第一年执教就率领洋基拿到第二好的战绩，但是他在管理投球教练上面让他输掉
了ALDS。或许让他在某人的板凳教练上待个一两年的话，那种状况就不会发生了。
Then again, Joe Maddon worked his way up the ranks before becoming a manager
and his moves nearly cost the Chicago Cubs the 2016 World Series title.
不过，Joe Maddon是一路慢慢爬上来当总教练，他的一些做法也差点让小熊丢掉了2016年
世界大赛的冠军。
“I can see how the trend is going, because there's a lot of good stuff out
there,” said Dave Roberts, who had both front office and coaching experience
when the Los Angeles Dodgers hired him in November 2015.
“我可以看到趋势的变化，因为很多好的事情从那发生，”躲人总教练Dave Roberts说，
他在2015年被聘为躲人总教练前有制服组跟值教经验。
“But you still have to put that right person that the players and coaches
respond to.”
“但是还是要放一个对的人，一个球员跟教练会有反应的人。”
In other words, experience still matters. It's just that the definition of it
has changed.
换句话说，经验还是重要，只是经验的定义已经改变了。