Parnell will close for Mets if Francisco ailing

Wilpon watched the club's first official workout Wednesday and said the Mets are in better financial shape than in the past.

The Mets had a relatively quiet offseason aside from locking up All-Star third baseman David Wright for another eight years and $138 million and bringing in pitcher Shaun Marcum on a one-year $4 million deal.

But Wilpon said general manager Sandy Alderson isn't under any strict monetary limitations and "the family is doing very well" financially.

That wasn't the case in the past when Wilpon and Mets management were busy paying off debts and working on damage caused by the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme case. Ownership settled on the Madoff case last spring.

"Everything that was in the past, you guys saw all the pain we went through, all of that is gone — the fact we couldn't do much during that time," Wilpon said.

"I think we would anticipate being big investors where appropriate," he said.

The Mets' payroll dipped from $134 million in 2010 to $93 million last year.

This winter, they had a chance to improve their outfield by going after free agent Michael Bourn. Wilpon and Alderson both said the hang-up wasn't all about money — Bourn recently went to Cleveland on a $48 million, four-year deal.

Had the Mets signed Bourn, they would've given up a high draft pick. There earlier had been speculation that the Mets would not have lost the pick, but that wasn't the case.

The length of the contract was another problem.

"We weren't prepared to go to five years, and they had known that for some time," Alderson said.

The Mets are hoping for a big return on a handful of low-risk deals designed to help shore up the bullpen.

In a much different approach to last year's $15.5 million investment on closer Frank Francisco and now-departed reliever Jon Rauch, the club signed veterans Pedro Feliciano, Scott Atchison and LaTroy Hawkins to minor league deals. The Mets also got Brandon Lyon for a one-year contract worth $750,000.

"We want to be as effective as we possibly can in the bullpen," Alderson said. "That hasn't been the case over the last few years. Relief pitching is notoriously unpredictable, but we think with the mix we have and the quality of the veterans we brought in, we should see some definite improvement."