My starting point is that I'm assuming Sandy would not be playing this out publicly if he wasn't serious about closing a deal on his terms. Now if you think that it's all a PR stunt and Sandy doesn't really have any intention of signing Bourn no matter what the price then you probably don't want to continue reading.

Whether you like Bourn or not, the very pursuit seems to tell us two things. First it suggests we can rest assured about the veracity of our GM and perhaps we can begin to believe the worst of the club's payroll pinching is over.

The off-season so far has left me with knots in my stomach because it's seemed as though Sandy either had the rug pulled from under him or bs'd us about money. His public comments consistently suggested that the Bay & Wright deferred dollars would create financial flexibility for this season. Then Dandy Sandy sat around and watched OFers pricey (Upton/Swisher) and cheap (Gomes/Johnson) come off the market as those there were holes in his pockets.

It was beginning to look as though the deferral talking points were a load of crap. Then came the revelation that the deferred dollars would still count as part of this year's payroll. Double crap. It'd keep us from spending money this year and next, because it seemed hard to believe that they wouldn't pinch the purse in the year the dough was cash-flowed. We were going to get screwed both ways!

But now, unless he's totally screwing with Boras, it turns out Sandy must have $10-$15m he's free to spend. ‘Cause barring an absurdly back-loaded deal, that's a reasonable range for what Bourn will cost this season.

And that would put the Mets payroll at $95-$100m without counting the Bay deferral this season and $110-$115m if you do count it. (Note: I'm counting Johan's buyout this season) And that's before you pencil in Brandon Lyon.

So even if Sandy can't get Bourn at the price he wants, the fact that he has enough dough to keep Boras at the table this long suggests I can believe what Sandy tells me and that the payroll may have ended a period of downward spiral. And if he can't land Bourn, Sandy might actually be able to afford some mid-season reinforcements.

Now all we need is for d'Arnaud to hit and Wheeler to pitch and 2013 could mark the turning point towards a winning future.