Alderson addresses payroll flexibility

NEW YORK -- General manager Sandy Alderson reiterated on Monday that the Mets have enough payroll flexibility to add a major piece via trade, though he indicated that the ability to do so will hinge upon early attendance figures.

Depending on the type of calculations used, the Opening Day payroll rests somewhere between $85 million and $90 million, roughly the same as last season.

"What I'm hoping is that as we get better and the fans respond to that improvement, that that payroll number will go up," Alderson said.

The Mets committed $87.25 million to three free agents (Curtis Granderson, Bartolo Colon and Chris Young) this past offseason, and paid significant arbitration raises to several others. But the overall effect was a reallocation of the money they'd spent on Johan Santana, Jason Bay, and other oft-injured or underperforming players in recent years.