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They should change their name to the New York Debts.
The cash-starved Mets are desperately seeking a new loan — totaling tens of millions of dollars — to cover their basic operating expenses, The Post has learned.
JPMorgan Chase — which led the banks that loaned the team about $430 million last year — is trying to recruit other institutions to join a syndicate to put together a new loan that would tide the Mets over until they sell a minority stake in the ballclub.
The Mets’ financial health has been imperiled by investments by its owner, Fred Wilpon, in Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme.
A well-placed source said both the Mets and Major League Baseball are exerting strong pressure on JPMorgan to make that loan happen.
The bank already has a tight relationship with MLB because it finances MLB operations.
“They [JPMorgan] believe the Mets still have the capacity to borrow,” a source said.
But another source said, “Are you kidding me?” when told about the loan.
“You don’t lend into a distressed situation,” that source said.
“This is a very risky loan,” with the team losing about $50 million a year.
Revelations about the proposed new loan comes days after it was revealed that, in late 2010, the Wilpon family borrowed $25 million from MLB — which previously loaned the Mets $50 million.
The $25 million was requested after the Wilpons learned that the bankruptcy trustee in the Madoff case was seeking up to $1 billion for alleged phony profits the family made in the scheme as well as punitive damages under the theory that they were sophisticated enough to know Madoff was a fraud.
The Wilpons deny that allegation and say they were net losers in the scheme.
Although MLB’s second loan pushed the Mets’ total outstanding debt to $505 million, the team may still be worth about $800 million — theoretically enough to provide collateral for more debt.
The new JPMorgan-led loan would be made with the understanding that it would help the Queens team cover its operating costs — including paying players who recently began spring training — pending the planned sale.
The Mets already have passed on to MLB the qualifications of more than a dozen groups of would-be buyers who are interested in purchasing less than 50 percent of the ballclub, leaving the Wilpons in place as team owners.
After MLB vets those prospective purchasers, the team would then entertain offers.
Last year, JPMorgan, with a syndicate that included Bank of America and Citigroup, refinanced $430 million of Mets debt despite concerns that the Wilpons lost a bundle with Madoff.
Earlier this month, The Post revealed that the banks had been selling off some of that debt at a discount — about 90 cents on the dollar — to lower their exposure to the Mets.
However, JPMorgan may be willing to offer a new loan to help the team avoid defaulting on the existing debt, which would force the bank to compete with other creditors to recoup money.
The bank itself is being sued for $6.4 billion by Madoff bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard, who claims JPMorgan did business with Madoff for years despite numerous red flags that he was a crook.
The bank denies those claims.
Additional reporting by Joel Sherman and Dan Martin