NEW YORK -- New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson hopes his team will open 2016 with a “somewhat higher” payroll than the roughly $103 million mark it stood at on Opening Day this year.

“We ended up higher than the $103 [million] because of the additions we made at the [trade] deadline,” Alderson said. “So my hope is we’ll start with a somewhat higher payroll -- I don’t know exactly what that will be -- than we started [at] last year. And we’ll have room at the deadline to make acquisitions, as we did this year.”

Before the Mets make any offseason maneuvers, they have roughly $92 million committed to players for 2016.

Asked if the increase in attendance as a result of the team's success automatically translates to a higher payroll, Alderson replied: "Automatically? I think it makes it easier. Absolutely. And I think that's kind of what we said over the last two or three years. As I indicated, I do think our payroll will start at a higher level this year than it started last year."