Who Knows if He’s the Man or a Mouse?

He doesn’t plan any changes in the top management of the Angels, insists he is committed to keeping the World Series roster intact, believes in building from within and says he has told General Manager Bill Stoneman that he can keep the job for as long as he wants.

What kind of an owner will Arturo Moreno be, now that he has succeeded Gene Autry and Michael Eisner, now that the Angels have erased 40 years of frustration under the cowboy by winning an elusive championship, establishing a measure of stability and filling Edison Field with electricity -- the word Moreno used -- under Disney?

Who can say for sure?

Who can predict what happens to the lifelong baseball fan when he actually gets the toy in his hands?

Thirty years ago, a man from Cleveland named George Steinbrenner stood in front of the microphones, announcing his $10-million purchase of the New York Yankees, and said he had too many business obligations in Ohio to get involved in the daily operation of the team.

There were people, he said, who knew far more about it than he did.

As we now know, Steinbrenner proved to be a fast learner -- at least in his own mind -- which is not to suggest that Anaheim will be resembling the Bronx Zoo soon.

It is merely to suggest that only time will define the kind of owner Arte Moreno will be in moving from billboards to baseball, merely to point out that with $183.5 million on the line he too is apt to become a fast learner.

For now, however?

Well, for now, it is reasonable to accept his claim that it would be a “disservice” to the club’s top management to “come in overnight” and think he can correct any particular flaw that might exist.

“I have to make sure I support what they’re doing, and I think they’re doing an excellent job,” he said. “I’ve been very successful surrounding myself with good people and keeping them in place.

“I’m very good at delegating.”

He said this in an interview with two reporters from The Times while surrounded, in fact, by the club’s top management: vice presidents Kevin Uhlich (business) and Tim Mead (communications), along with Stoneman.

He was sitting in an executive suite at his Manhattan bank after being approved in a unanimous vote of the 29 other owners. The transfer from Disney should become official with the signing of paperwork next week.

As a former limited partner in the Arizona Diamondbacks, Moreno was involved in what baseball sources describe as a hostile takeover attempt from managing general partner Jerry Colangelo.

It clearly left a mark on Colangelo, who has refused to talk about Moreno, but now Moreno has his own World Series champion -- clean and clear -- and he said, “There is no reason we shouldn’t do our very best to [maintain] a championship team in ... the No. 1 entertainment market in the world.”

How does that translate financially? Moreno was hesitant to answer.

People familiar with his thinking say there were three priorities in his search for a team:

It had to be within an hour of his principal home in Phoenix, have a workable stadium contract and a reasonable payroll.

Disney bumped the payroll to $76 million in retaining the championship roster and left room for it to expand to $84 million -- an upper-middle-class neighborhood Moreno probably will maintain.

Initially, of course, he doesn’t have a lot of choice, because the Angels are pretty much tied to their current roster by contracts.

Whether that totally rules out the signing of a free agent the caliber of Vladimir Guerrero or Miguel Tejada next winter isn’t certain, but Moreno said his long-term priority is “keeping our own players” and supplementing when there is an

obvious enhancement in the market.

“Obviously, if it’s going to cost me money, I need to know about it,” he said. Otherwise, Stoneman will be making the calls.

They had a five-hour meeting in Arizona in March, when Moreno was among several bidders for the Angels. He clearly seemed to have seen the same things in Stoneman that Tony Tavares did when he hired Stoneman to succeed Bill Bavasi: the ability to develop a team within a budget while emphasizing scouting and development.

Stoneman’s contract expires at the end of the season, but Moreno said, “I’ve told Bill that he’s welcome to stay as long as he wants to stay.”

Moreno has a reputation for loyalty to long-term employees, and he seemed to suggest that a contract might not be needed.

“In a business situation, I told [Stoneman], ‘You tell me what you need and we’ll get it taken care of.’

” ... If he likes a contract, he has a contract.”

At Yankee Stadium later, Stoneman laughed when asked about Moreno’s reference to staying for as long as he wants.

“We’ll be talking at some point after [the transfer becomes official] and figure out what that means,” Stoneman said. “I enjoy what I’m doing and am looking forward to staying. I came away from that meeting in March with a smile on my face. I think he’ll be fun to work with, and I feel very comfortable with the situation.”

The situation is this: The Angels are now owned by a former resident of Santa Ana who often saw Nolan Ryan and Frank Tanana pitch at what was then Anaheim Stadium, who grew up, however, rooting for the Yankees because of their success in the ‘50s, whose affection for the game grew when he saw Willie Mays and Hank Aaron in spring training while living in Arizona, and who formerly owned the minor league Salt Lake City Trappers, an experience that familiarized him, Moreno said, with a baseball operation.

“The only difference [between that and a major league operation],” he said, “is a few zeroes.”

Quite a few, of course, and Moreno said he wouldn’t be spending $183.5 million at a time when corporations are fleeing an economically troubled industry if he didn’t intend to operate it as a business, if he didn’t consider it a long-term asset and if he didn’t think it was possible to turn a profit.

Moreno has a house in La Jolla and said he would be at Edison Field regularly, supervising the asset.

“When it comes to baseball, we’re all experts,” he said. “Being an owner is something I’m going to have some real fun at. I can blame these guys if we screw up.”

He referred to Stoneman, Uhlich and Mead and said it kiddingly.

Then again, it’s much too soon to know what kind of an owner he will be.