Keeping Score: Team's Roster Still Presents Financial Problems When Fred Wilpon returns to Port St. Lucie, Fla., on Tuesday, feeling triumphant, he will encounter a Mets team that has played poorly this spring and done little to dispel the notion that the 2012 season will be long and difficult. The Mets currently have a $90 million roster - down from $140 million just a year ago - that lacks veteran talent and depth and looks overmatched in a formidable National League East. When that might change is unclear, since the Mets, in the wake of Monday's announced legal settlement with the trustee for Bernard Madoff's fraud victims, still face challenging financial issues. Wilpon said Monday he was eager to bring the Mets "back to prominence," but for any team in any sport that is easy to proclaim and harder to carry out. What Wilpon might conceivably do in the short term, however, is send some positive signals over the future status of David Wright, who at 29 remains the face of the franchise despite his diminished status as an everyday star. Wright will be paid $15 million this season, with the Mets holding a $16 million option for 2013. Because Wright has become an erratic hitter in recent seasons - his power numbers and average gyrating, his strikeouts climbing - and because the Mets, in the midst of their Madoff troubles, seemed unlikely to offer him a new long-term contract, he had become a subject of ongoing trade speculation. The theory was that the Mets, if they found themselves buried in the standings this summer, would be tempted to trade Wright to a contender before the July 31 trading deadline and receive prospects in exchange. But that was before Monday's settlement did away with the financial threat the trustee posed. Whether Wilpon might now feel more tempted to try to keep Wright for the long term remains to be seen. But he might, if for no other reason than to send a signal to the team's discontented fan base that he is willing to make at least one investment in the team's future at some point this season. Jose Reyes was let go this winter without a fight; letting fans know that Wright might be staying put might soothe some wounds. Of course, Wright also needs to straighten himself out at the plate. Once a model of consistency, with his key numbers barely budging from season to season, he turned chaotic when Citi Field opened in 2009, its overly large dimensions clearly getting into his head. Over the last three seasons, his home run totals have gone from 10 to 29 to 14 (although he only played in 102 games in 2011). His runs batted in went from 72 to 103 to 61, his average from .307 to .283 to .254. Now that Citi Field's fences have been brought in for 2012, Wright might revert to the consistent hitter he used to be, assuming he recovers fairly soon from the abdominal tear that has sidelined him this spring. Wright also has an intrinsic value to the Mets that goes beyond his immediate numbers this April or May. The Mets have never had a cradle-to-grave star, someone who was with the organization from start to finish and put up outstanding career numbers. As a result, the leader in career hits for the Mets remains Ed Kranepool, with 1,418, a figure that comes off as comical in a city that honors the numbers put up by lifetime Yankee icons like Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and, yes, Derek Jeter. Wright now has 1,248 career hits. He could easily double that number as a Met - if Wilpon tries to keep him. It should be noted that while Wright is currently the senior Met in terms of service, he only has the third-highest salary on the club. The biggest payroll number belongs to Johan Santana, who is trying to rebound after a year lost to arm surgery and is due to make $24 million in 2012 and $25.5 million in 2013. The second-highest contract is Jason Bay's. He will make $16 million in each of the next two seasons. But while Wright is obviously tradeable, Santana and Bay are not, Santana because of the enormous money he makes and his questionable health as a pitcher, Bay because his offensive numbers have become feeble. The fourth-highest contract for 2012 belongs to Mike Pelfrey, who is making $5.7 million this season. He struggled in 2011 and has had a horrible spring. Right now, he may not be tradeable, either. After that come R .A. Dickey, at $4.25 million, and the players the Mets acquired in the off-season, like reliever Frank Francisco ($5.5 million this season, $6.5 million in 2013) and outfielder Andres Torres ($2.7 million this year). Spare parts like Ronny Cedeno and Jerry Hairston are making slightly more than $1 million. And then come the young, homegrown Mets - Josh Thole, Ike Davis, Jon Niese, Dillon Gee, Daniel Murphy, Lucas Duda, Ruben Tejada - all of whom are making less than $1 million. This, then, is the $90 million group Wilpon will essentially greet. It doesn't look like a winner anytime soon; the question is where Wright will be when, and if, things eventually turn around.