Laura Albanese: Mets, Steve Cohen facing new financial MLB order with Stan Kroenke preparing to take over Angels

For a game that inches along the long summer slog, the landscape does change pretty quickly sometimes, doesn’t it?

One day, the Dodgers were on top of the world. The next day, despite their comfortable perch atop the NL West, it was revealed that owner Mark Walter is under federal investigation for financial misconduct, and the ramifications were huge.

His majority stake in the Lakers? Sold. His minority stake in Chelsea F.C.? Possibly next. And though Walter’s company, TSG Global, has insisted this won’t impact the Dodgers, it’s certainly possible that, with more than $1 billion owed in deferrals, the franchise’s seemingly endless financial resources might not always be quite so endless. At the very least, how they use those resources will be under greater scrutiny.

Then there’s the Big Boss, East Coast Division. For now, Steve Cohen is the richest owner in baseball, but that too is set to change.

Though the move has yet to be approved by Major League Baseball, earlier this week it was announced that Rams owner Stan Kroenke has agreed to purchase a controlling stake in the Angels from embattled owner Arte Moreno. Kroenke’s net worth of $24.3 billion overshadows Cohen’s by a cool $1.3 billion, according to Forbes.

Take all of that drama and throw in an extra dash of uncertainty: Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement is set to expire in December, and once that happens, the game again is going to change. Will there be a salary cap? A salary floor? What will the competitive balance tax threshold look like? Will there be baseball at all?

All of this comes into play as the Mets get set to enter what could turn out to be one of the most chaotic free-agency periods in recent memory — particularly if bigger-ticket players such as Tarik Skubal (or, more aptly, agent Scott Boras) are looking to secure contracts before being restrained by potential spending limits.

This came into focus a little more clearly on Wednesday when NPB fan account @HimeChan_Sports posted a photo from a game involving the Hanshin Tigers, who employ reigning Japanese Central League MVP Teruaki Sato, who is expected to be posted this offseason.

The photo wasn’t of the field, though. No, it was of Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns leaning against a wall outside what appeared to be the scorer’s booth, typing on his cellphone.

It’s no secret that the Mets have at least kicked the tires on Sato, a lefthanded-hitting third baseman with power who most likely would have to move to first base (whether we want to see a rerun of that experiment is another discussion entirely).

But this latest photo is perhaps an indicator that interest might be more significant than previously believed — with the caveat, of course, that Stearns could have been there to watch other Japanese players as well.

And why not? It’s a weak free-agent class, and some of the common worries about the Japanese playing pool have abated of late.

Teams generally have had more faith in Japanese pitchers than power hitters, the concern being whether that power would translate against major- league pitching. And perhaps the Mets’ own reservations came to the fore last year when they barely waded into the Munetaka Murakami sweepstakes.

It was fitting, then, that a team with nothing to lose took a chance on Murakami. Now the White Sox are destined for the playoffs and Murakami has proved that he can make balls fly just as far in the United States as he did in Japan.

Murakami and Sato obviously are two different players, and one’s success does not guarantee the other’s. But even if the Mets are interested, you have to consider the wrinkles we talked about at the outset — ones that will be tricky to navigate not only in this circumstance but in the many similar ones to come.

First, the Dodgers have long been the premier landing spot for big-time free agents, American and Japanese alike. And it’s still unclear if the Walter situation will impact that at all (don’t forget that Shohei Ohtani has a stipulation in his contract that says he can opt out if Walter sells the team).

Still, even if their spending gets curtailed, the Dodgers have cachet that the Mets simply do not possess.

And then there’s Kroenke.

He’s considered one of the most respected owners in sports, overseeing championships for the Rams, Nuggets and Avalanche. He owns Arsenal F.C. and is willing to provide state-of-the-art facilities for the organizations under his control. Suddenly, the Angels are no one’s little brother despite the utter embarrassment of having wasted almost all of Mike Trout’s Hall of Fame career.

Kroenke not only has the money but knows how to use it. If MLB imposes a hard cap, well, the Rams and Avalanche won with a hard cap. If it’s a soft cap, look to the Nuggets.

Since Cohen bought the Mets, fans could find solace in one thing: If he really wanted a player, he had the money to outspend anyone. The landscape, though, has changed, and it’s about to change a whole lot more in the coming months.

Now the question isn’t whether the Mets’ front office can play the game better than they have the last two seasons but whether they can adapt to a very different one.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.