PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- New York Mets principal owner Fred Wilpon said his family is free and clear of past financial woes and that general manager Sandy Alderson has the financial flexibility to make major free-agent signings in upcoming offseasons.

Wilpon, 76, favorably settled a lawsuit brought by the trustee trying to recover funds for victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme last year.

Fred Wilpon said of the financial troubles that have plagued the Mets over the past few seasons: "It's all in the rearview mirror." Adam Rubin/ESPN

He added that the family's improved financial complexion also is the result of the rebound of real estate, his primary business, as well as stock-market gains and the thriving of SportsNet New York, the television network in which the family owns a majority stake.

"It's all in the rearview mirror," Wilpon said about past financial woes Wednesday after arriving at the team's spring training complex. "... The family is in great shape. The family really is in great shape. Sometimes luck is the residue of design."

Wilpon originally faced a $1 billion lawsuit regarding the Madoff scheme, but the settlement will result in the family ultimately having to pay no more than $85.7 million -- and likely far less than that.

Wilpon said the payroll, slashed in recent seasons under Alderson, could return to past levels if the team is prudent. The payroll went from a high of $148 million late in Omar Minaya's tenure as general manager to roughly $95 million last year.

Wilpon pointed to bank debt as a primary reason for an un-New York-like payroll in recent years. The Mets have produced four straight losing seasons and have not reached the postseason since 2006.

"It wasn't, as people have written, the reason," Wilpon said about the Madoff issue and payroll slashing. "It was a balance there, because we had to make sure the banks got paid off all of the debt. There's no one in my family -- there's the Katz family, the Wilpon family, kids -- [that now] has any personal bank debt. Zero. Everything has been paid. We don't owe a dollar to anybody. We have mortgages on buildings and stuff like that, but we don't owe a dollar.