[ed: In this new Yard Work feature, two baseball personalities go head-to-head over a series of timely discussion topics. The participants are presented with a statement and are asked to respond to it by either agreeing (FACT) or disagreeing (FICTION), along with an explanation of their thought processes. In this week’s installment, ex-Devil Ray GM Chuck LaMar and ex-Oriole GM Jim Beattie will talk about issues related to the 2005 ALCS between the Chicago White Sox and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.]

1. The Angels made a wise move by not including ace Bartolo Colon on the ALCS roster.

LaMar. FICTION. This was a poor move. Colon’s precise injury status isn’t completely known at this point. He could take two or three weeks to recover, but it might also take just two or three days. What if it’s the latter? Mike Scioscia will feel a bit silly if his ace is ready for Game 4 but can’t pitch because he was left off the roster.

Instead of sticking with proven veterans like Colon, they’re using the strategy that we pioneered in Tampa Bay by experimenting with youngsters. The Angels are hoping that they’ve found their very own Scott Kazmir in the person of Ervin Santana. Naturally, many teams want a young buck like Kazmir to anchor their rotation, but I’m not sure if the playoffs are the best time to be experimenting with such things. The idea is to pitch kids like Kazmir when they’re 19 or 20, and by the time they get to be Ervin Santana’s age, their teams are playoff-ready and these so-called kids are ready to handle the adult rigors of the postseason. Santana has been thrown into the fire straight away and I’m not sure if he can handle the pressure.

Beattie. FACT. The Angels will be fine without Colon. Pitchers with his sizeable girth aren’t to be trusted. These out-of-shape behemoths can melt down in an instant. Unless you get lucky, and that pitcher starts driving drunk every other weekend, then you’ve thrown millions of precious dollars down the drain with little hope of recovering it. It’s better to use that money to acquire proven sluggers, which by the looks of things, are the types of hitters that the power-starved Angels could use right now. Unfortunately for them, it’s about two months too late for me to aid them in that regard.

2. The keys to the ALCS are the Angels’ bullpen and the White Sox’s rotation. Whichever group outperforms the other will take their team to the World Series.

LaMar. FACT. The Angels need to get to Chicago’s starters early and hope the bullpen can hold the lead. Their bullpen is certainly solid, but they’re lacking the presence of a young flamethrowing pitcher like Scott Kazmir. Frankie Rodriguez played that role for the Angels during their 2002 playoff run, but he’s too old to fill that void now.

Beattie. FICTION. I can’t agree with you there, Chuck. This series is about hitting. The White Sox need injured veterans like Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez to step up and earn their millions. Their offense is solid without them but they owe it to their fans to play out those contracts. Anything less would be cheating the fans who have supported the team for so long. As for the Angels, Tim Salmon is on the playoff roster and should be playing a key role, just as he did in 2002. Why isn’t he playing? Both teams have struggled to score thus far in the series and that will have to change if either team wants to come out a winner.

[ed: Let’s swap the order!]

3. The blown call in Game 2 was the worst umpiring mistake in the history of baseball.

Beattie. FICTION. Hardly. Just last year, we saw Bronson Arroyo run into poor Alex Rodriguez during a key moment in the ALCS. I groomed Alex from the time he was a young baseball pup in the Mariners organization. I was the director of player development and I cared for my players like they were my own children. I know in my heart that Alex would never do to Arroyo what people said he did. That call hurt me in my heart far more than the call in Game 2 this year.

La Mar. FICTION. I’ve seen worse calls this year. This past May against Minnesota, the Devil Rays were burned by a terrible call at first base in the fifth inning. We’d just taken three out of four games from the Yankees and were on the verge of turning our season around. Scott Kazmir, our ace, our young stud, was on the mound for us but the game unravelled from that point on. We not only lost the contest, but we lost our best shot at taking another series from a contending team and making some noise in the AL East pennant race. So please don’t talk to me about blown calls.

4. With the AL Central emerging as possibly the league’s deepest and most competitive division, this is the White Sox best chance to go the World Series and they need to take advantage of it.

Beattie. FACT. If the season had ended in June, then the Orioles would be in the World Series right now and I might still have my job. Oppurtunities to win don’t come along very often. When they do come along you need to take hold of them and make them happen. If Alex Rodriguez had played a full season in 1995, complimenting Junior and Big Unit’s year-long brilliance, then there’d be a World Series banner hanging in Seattle right now. As a front office executive, you have to believe that sort of rhetoric no matter what the cost.

LaMar. FICTION. Don’t be such a crybaby. Baseball is cyclical. The strongest divisions right now will be the weakest ones in five or six years. Throughout my tenure with the Devil Rays, I always said they were only five or six years away from contending for a pennant, and I still believe that today. With young talent like Scott Kazmir and Carl Crawford on that club, I think I’ll be proven correct. So no, if the ChiSox lose this year then new oppurtunities will come along in future years. As long as they don’t have to face Scott Kazmir in the playoffs, of course!