With Jason Bay gone and a portion of the $21 million still owed to him now deferred, the Mets may have more money to spend this offseason.

"I think there is a little bit more flexibility," Sandy Alderson said. "What will it come from? The Jason Bay settlement. A variety of other possible sources of that flexibility. I don't know exactly to what extent we'll have flexibility, but we'll have a little at least."

Alderson did indicate that the team's payroll won't stray too much from the 2012 figure of $100 million.