AL WEST RACE NOT AS SIMPLE AS OLD VS. NEW.

Byline: GABE LACQUES

OAKLAND - Judging by the fallout produced by one best-selling book, the season-long battle for supremacy in the American League West won't just be about a playoff spot.

It's about old-school sensibilities vs. new-school thought processes. Raw tool projection vs. statistical evaluation.

In the red corner, representing the old guard, your $110 million, first-pitch-swinging, high school player-drafting Angels.

And in the green corner, representing the hopes and dreams of Silicon Valley tech-heads and efficiency experts everywhere, your plate-patient, college-educated, lean, mean, $60 million fightin' machine Oakland Athletics.

If only it were that simple.

But in this post-``Moneyball'' era, a book that's polarized baseball as no politician ever could, there is a perception the two schools of thought on this game are mutually exclusive, that you are either a radar-gun-toting grizzled baseball man, or an Ivy League-educated prisoner to computer printouts and bizarre-sounding nouveau statistical categories.

Yet in a development that is sure to sadden techies everywhere, we have learned that Oakland general manager Billy Beane actually does employ a few scouts. Sometimes, he lets them eat. Occasionally, he even listens to what they have to say.

So, with the Grand Old Game in an era that supposedly is so black and white, the real color of ``Moneyball'' might actually be a shade of gray.

``The way this has been portrayed in the media has been, the clubs that use statistical analysis rely solely on that,'' Stoneman said. ``And the clubs that are so-called traditional scouting clubs don't rely on statistical analysis at all.

``And that's total (baloney) on both sides. One of the fallacies, or maybe it's an assumption, is there's never been any statistical analysis, or very little, done by clubs. What has appeared has been a total oversimplification of the guys who supposedly are the new-wave statistical-analysis people. ``Everybody does it. What we're careful not to do is really to use it exclusively.''

``Moneyball'' was not without collateral damage. Beane has been portrayed in months since as arrogant and disrespectful of scouts and of rival GMs. In reality, he's merely a competitor, just like 29 other GMs around the game. And maybe he's a little tired of the obsession about his operation.

``Other than someone who's worked for us, I don't think anyone else has any clue what we're doing here, quite frankly,'' Beane said. ``There seems to be a concern with what we're doing. We don't really care.

``My owner cares that we win and that's my responsibility. Whether someone agrees with that or not, well, it seems like they've got a lot on their plate. For each organization, ultimately, the results will dictate if they're doing it the right way for their market.''

Toeing the line between both camps is Angels bench coach Joe Maddon, a renaissance man and new-age thinker all at once. The 50-year-old mans the laptop for the Angels coaching staff, and is cutting-edge enough to earn an interview last November with Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein for the sabermetrics-happy Sox's managerial opening.

As with many in the Angels organization, he steadfastly defends their draft and development record that dates to former scouting director Bob Fontaine Jr. But unlike some in baseball's so-called old guard, he sees the merits of evolution.

``Some scouts who didn't want to listen may feel the game is (separated),'' he says. ``Minds are being stretched. If you choose to challenge that, you may find yourself doing something else. At least listen. The polarization is between younger, freer minds vs. the older. But this probably happened 20 years before, and 20 years before that, and 20 years before that. We always look at it as though we're the first ones. We're not.''

What Beane has done is manage his market. In a larger market, where he's not facing an automatic $50 million spending deficit compared to his top competition, might he tweak his philosophy?

Most important, would the Pope of Patience have free-swinging talent such as Vladimir Guerrero on his team? His answer suggests any school of thought is subject to adjustments.

``We just want good players,'' he said. ``You just mentioned a good player. We like good players.''