The New York Mets have begun the dismantling of MLB’s most expensive roster ever.

Just four months after starting the 2023 season with a $344 million roster that surpassed all prior league payroll records by more than $50 million, the Mets’ inability to post a winning record, much less compete for a playoff spot, has forced team officials to begin tearing the roster apart and regroup.

Now five games under .500, the Mets on Saturday traded pitcher Max Scherzer — who is tied for the league’s largest 2023 player salary at $43.3 million — to Texas, two days after sending $10 million closer David Robertson to Miami. Scherzer agreed to waive his no-trade clause to make the Rangers deal happen.

More Mets trades are expected in advance of MLB’s Aug. 1 trade deadline, but team GM Billy Eppler sought to reframe the team’s situation under owner Steve Cohen.

“It’s not a rebuild. It’s not a fire sale. It’s not a liquidation. This is just a repurposing of Steve’s investment in the club,” Eppler said.

The moves are not surprising, as Cohen in late June warned such decisions could be soon forthcoming as he lamented what had become a “terrible” season. But the team’s situation still serves as a stark indicator how much MLB’s traditional norms broadly linking player spending to on-field success have been inverted.

As the trade deadline approaches, MLB’s three largest spenders are all out of playoff position, while four of the bottom six are solidly contending. The No. 29 team — the $69 million Baltimore Orioles — in particular have soared to the top record in the American League.

It’s now safe to be around and do business with the Washington Commanders.

For many years a deeply toxic franchise under former owner Dan Snyder, the recent $6.05 billion sale of the team to a group led by Josh Harris has prompted a rapid re-embrace by fans and politicians that now sets up to be one of the key storylines of the 2023 NFL season.

The opening of the Commanders’ training camp in Ashburn, Virginia, has attracted standing-room-only crowds, with a draw of 10,000 on Saturday representing the best such turnout for the team since 2015.

The crowds represented a resurgent show of fan support following the team’s precipitous fall from No. 1 to No. 32 in NFL home attendance over the course of the Snyder era.

What’s Old Is New Again

Meanwhile, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser and several City Council members have expressed public support for a new Commanders stadium there, with the site of the team’s former home, RFK Stadium, emerging as a leading candidate.

This political backing also fundamentally differs from prior resistance leading to a years-long, unsuccessful pursuit by Snyder to develop a successor facility to FedEx Field, and adds to recently introduced federal legislation that would help turn the RFK site into a mixed-use development.

“We don’t want a lot of asphalt parking and one use. We want a lot of vibrancy,” Bowser told WJFK-FM. “We think that comes when you have a campus brought to life on days there isn’t a game. Having multiple uses is a high priority for us.”

The NBA is finally making an effort to rein in star players’ seemingly unflappable ability to control what team they play for, no matter the costs.

With Damian Lillard’s request to be traded from the Portland Trail Blazers — and not-so-secret desire to end up on the Miami Heat — the latest headline, the league issued a memo to teams indicating players cannot force their way to a single team and could be disciplined for insinuating they wouldn’t fulfill their contract.

Last season, Kevin Durant reportedly indicated that Phoenix was his preferred trade destination, and the Brooklyn Nets ended up sending him to the Suns. Kyrie Irving was also unhappy on the Nets and was traded to the Dallas Mavericks.

The NBA is finally making an effort to rein in star players’ seemingly unflappable ability to control what team they play for, no matter the costs.

With Damian Lillard’s request to be traded from the Portland Trail Blazers — and not-so-secret desire to end up on the Miami Heat — the latest headline, the league issued a memo to teams indicating players cannot force their way to a single team and could be disciplined for insinuating they wouldn’t fulfill their contract.

Last season, Kevin Durant reportedly indicated that Phoenix was his preferred trade destination, and the Brooklyn Nets ended up sending him to the Suns. Kyrie Irving was also unhappy on the Nets and was traded to the Dallas Mavericks.

Power Struggle

The memo reiterates concerns NBA commissioner Adam Silver has previously raised. During this year‘s All-Star weekend he said he was “strongly against” players speaking publicly about wanting to be traded.

Some players will inevitably end up disgruntled and want out of their teams but consistently  aggressive trade demands could leave small market NBA teams in particular with no ability to retain star players even if they sign them to contract extensions beyond their rookie deals.

Situations to watch involving young stars not in top-tier markets include LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets, Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans, and Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies.

The memo reiterates concerns NBA commissioner Adam Silver has previously raised. During this year‘s All-Star weekend he said he was “strongly against” players speaking publicly about wanting to be traded.

Some players will inevitably end up disgruntled and want out of their teams but consistently  aggressive trade demands could leave small market NBA teams in particular with no ability to retain star players even if they sign them to contract extensions beyond their rookie deals.

Situations to watch involving young stars not in top-tier markets include LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets, Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans, and Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies.

Expansive development of the surrounding areas at major sports venues is topping the wish-list of teams looking to bring new retail space, bars, restaurants, and family activities closer to their home venues.

These “mini-cities” have proven to be major success stories in locales like Atlanta at the Battery connected to the Braves’ Truist Park and the ever-growing development around the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium as well as its headquarters in Frisco, Texas. 

Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke has a vast vision for the Hollywood Park space at SoFI Stadium — which has 15 million square feet of entitlements to work with and the billionaire is looking to build something similar just outside of Denver for the Colorado Rapids, which he also owns.

The latest team and city to explore the trend is the Cleveland Browns. New renderings show plans for a land bridge that would connect downtown Cleveland to Lake Erie north of Cleveland Browns Stadium — which lost its naming rights sponsor earlier this year. Perhaps new development could attract a new company to inject more cash into the club by attaching its name to their venue.

At one point, the Browns had hoped to get $1 billion in funding from the city of Cleveland for stadium renovations.

The Tennessee Titans are building a new $2.1 billion stadium in Nashville that they hope will host events like the Super Bowl and Final Four and the Jaguars are planning their “stadium of the future” that would revitalize downtown Jacksonville.