Angels are set to dive right in

The auction starts today, and the Angels already have their hands up. Today is the first day teams can bid upon free agents, and the Angels plan to submit opening bids so high that a player or two will accept right away and other teams will take their money elsewhere.

Sometimes that strategy works, and you win Mo Vaughn. That didn’t work out so well for the Angels.

Sometimes that strategy doesn’t work, and you lose Paul Konerko. That didn’t work out so well for the Angels, either.

But they’re back, with owner Arte Moreno’s wallet wide open. The last time the Angels missed the playoffs, Moreno spent $145 million on free agents, including Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colon, the best position player and best pitcher available that winter.

The Angels already have bid on Japanese star pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. They could learn in the next 48 hours whether they have won the right to negotiate a major league contract with him. And, by day’s end, the Angels are expected to have made offers to third baseman Aramis Ramirez and outfielders Alfonso Soriano and Gary Matthews Jr.

“I expect some of the free agents will want to take their time,” Angels General Manager Bill Stoneman said. “That’s not something we want to do.”

It will be expensive to sign a top free agent, perhaps prohibitively so to sign one to a contract so lucrative that a player and his agent decide not to shop around. Barring an 11th-hour agreement to return to the Chicago Cubs, Ramirez would join Soriano as the top position players available in free agency.

“If he hits the market, we’ll be looking at Beltran money,” said Paul Kinzer, the agent for Ramirez.

That would be Carlos Beltran, who signed a seven-year, $119-million contract with the New York Mets two winters ago. Soriano is looking for Beltran money, too.

No team might meet that asking price -- Scott Boras, the agent for Beltran, opened that bidding at 10 years and $200 million -- but Stoneman might have to if he wants Ramirez to sign quickly.

The Angels desperately need a third baseman and a power hitter, so Ramirez is their top target since he fills both needs. Kinzer said he would be receptive to an offer that would make it worth signing quickly.

“I could see that happening,” Kinzer said. “When you come in aggressively, you can get a deal done.”

He cited last winter, when he and Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti worked out a three-year, $39-million contract within days last winter for shortstop Rafael Furcal. The Dodgers were widely perceived to have overpaid for Furcal.

Kinzer said eight teams, including the Angels, called to express interest in Ramirez on the first day teams could do so. The Dodgers are expected to bid on Ramirez and Soriano too, but Soriano is their top choice since they have Wilson Betemit and Andy LaRoche for third base and they have two outfield vacancies.

The Dodgers also plan to explore signing a center fielder, perhaps Kenny Lofton or Juan Pierre, and a starting pitcher or two. They’ll talk with Jason Schmidt, Barry Zito and Greg Maddux, but the latter two players are represented by Boras, whose players do not tend to sign quickly. If the Angels miss out on Matsuzaka, they’ll inquire about Zito too.

The Dodgers had hoped Maddux would return on a one-year deal for close to the $8 million he averaged in his last contract. But Maddux is believed to be seeking two years and a significant raise, so those negotiations could linger.

With a relative shortage of top talent available and an industry so flush with cash that owners and players signed a new labor agreement last month without even a hint of a strike or lockout, contract values could soar. And, in an era of revenue sharing, the Angels and Dodgers might be competing for the few available stars with teams beyond their big-market rivals in New York, Boston and Chicago.

“There are probably 18 teams that have more than $20 million to spend,” Boras said.

If you need a top starter and you don’t get Matsuzaka, you’re competing for Zito and Schmidt and ... Jeff Suppan? Jeff Weaver? Ted Lilly? If you need a slugger, you’re competing for Ramirez, Soriano, Carlos Lee and ... Barry Bonds? Mike Piazza? J.D. Drew?

“The market is very starved for position players,” Boras said.

So much so that Drew walked away from the Dodgers, giving up $33 million in a bet he can make more in this market. In August, as Drew repeatedly told reporters that he would return to the Dodgers, Boras talked privately of how he could see Drew playing center field for the Angels.

After Konerko spurned the Angels last winter to return to the Chicago White Sox, the Angels closed shop. Plan A failed, and there was no Plan B, at least in free agency or trade.

This time?

“We’ve got Plan A, B, C, D and E,” Stoneman said, referring to free agency and trades. “We’ve got five ways of doing what we want to get done. There’s a lot of stuff we could be tackling. There won’t be much time wasted.”

Times staff writers Mike DiGiovanna and Steve Henson contributed to this report.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

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Hot stove league

Key dates in the 2006-07 baseball off-season:

Nov. 13-17 -- General managers’ meetings, Naples, Fla.

* Nov. 16 -- Owners’ meeting, Chicago.

* Dec. 1 -- Last day for teams to offer salary arbitration to their former players who became free agents.

* Dec. 4-7 -- Winter meetings, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

* Dec. 4-8 -- Major League Baseball Players Association executive board meeting, Bonita Springs, Fla.

* Dec. 7 -- Last day for free agents offered salary arbitration to accept or reject the offers.

* Dec. 12 -- Last day for teams to offer 2007 contracts to unsigned players.

* Jan 5-15 -- Salary arbitration filing.

* Jan. 18 -- Exchange of salary arbitration figures.

* Feb. 1-21 -- Salary arbitration hearings.

* March 2-11 -- Teams may renew contracts of unsigned players.

* March 14 -- Last day to place a player on unconditional release waivers and pay 30 days termination pay instead of 45 days.

* March 28 -- Last day to request unconditional release waivers on a player without having to pay his full 2007 salary.

* April 1 -- Opening day. Active rosters reduced to 25 players.

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Associated Press