Sandy Alderson has suggested the Mets' payroll may very well be less than $100 million on Opening Day. Well, it's already coming within range of that figure with minimal offseason activity.

In fact, if you assume the Mets drop D.J. Carrasco, even though he's due to make $1.2 million, the payroll already is roughly $90 million. And that's with the wildly conservative assertion that 14 players are making $500,000 -- close to the major league minimum -- and that no other players will be called up during the year to fill in for players on the DL. It also discounts performance bonuses.

Here's the tally:

1. Johan Santana, $24 million
2. Jason Bay, $16 million
3. David Wright, $15 million
4. Frank Francisco, $6 million (based on two-year, $12 million deal)
5. Mike Pelfrey, $5.5 million (arbitration estimate)
6. R.A. Dickey, $4.25 million
7. Jon Rauch, $3.5 million
8. Andres Torres, $2.75 million (arbitration estimate)
9. Ramon Ramirez, $2 million (arbitration estimate)
10. Carrasco, $1.2 million
11. Tim Byrdak, $1 million
12. Manny Acosta, $1 million (arbitration estimate)
14 players at $500,000 -- $7 million

TOTAL: $89.2 million