How former SNY reporter Andy Martino became a different type of 'insider' with the Mets

Andy Martino spent eight seasons as a full-time “MLB insider” on SNY. Whenever anything happened with the Mets, the former newspaper beat reporter would pop up on your television screen to break it down.

But Martino has become a different type of insider this season. In January, he left SNY and was hired by the Mets for the unique role of “team reporter and host.”

So Steve Cohen, the same guy who signs Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor’s paychecks, also signs Martino’s.

In the news release announcing Martino’s signing, the Mets said he will “contribute a new editorial perspective to Mets coverage and storytelling.”

The Mets, led by creative director Bobby Clemens, a Copiague native, over the last few years have excelled in creating their own digital content, most notably a two-part 2025 documentary, “The Pursuit,” that chronicled the team’s signing of Soto.

Martino left SNY (he was replaced as “MLB insider” by Chelsea Janes, a former Washington Post baseball columnist) and signed with the Mets to host a new podcast, “Mets Clubhouse Pass,” and to host the “The Mets Minute” on the Citi Field scoreboard before home games.

“I saw that the Mets were doing interesting creative work,” Martino told Newsday in a telephone interview. “I thought, what could I do with my own background and skill set that could contribute to that, or be additive to what they're already doing? I thought it was a dynamic creative environment without me. I know how to conduct interviews. I know how to watch a game. I know how to talk to players. I know I'd have creative ideas. So I thought, well, these are all things that perhaps I could contribute.”

You’d think it would be a whole new ballgame for the 45-year-old Rochester, New York, native. Has he had to make any changes to his approach now that he works for the Mets and is no longer a journalist with a capital "J"?

“I would say no,” Martino said. “In the day-to-day, no. The biggest change has been, I have had the opportunity to use skills that I didn't have the opportunity to use before, hosting on camera and audio interviewing. Whereas when I was at SNY, I was a panelist or a reporter/insider, giving inside trade information or game information. So there's more of an opportunity to spread my wings here.”

The podcast debuted on March 23 with a 27-minute interview with David Wright. New episodes are presented on weekdays, sometimes as shorter editions with the nuts and bolts of what’s going on with the team, and sometimes as longer interviews with current or former Mets personnel, and sometimes with the nuts and bolts followed by longer-form interviews.

“I guess the guiding principle,” Martino said, “is use the access that we naturally have being the organization. Access is obviously something we can offer. So what are different ways we can do that that a Mets fan might be interested in?

“One is taking you inside what just happened in the game. Having that access and hopefully building trust with players so they'll provide authentic answers and a unique couple of questions about what just happened in the game or what might happen in tomorrow's game.

“I do think that as a sports fan myself, I want the nuts and bolts or the ins and outs of my team in addition to anything that's more ambitious or big picture. I want to make sure to provide here's who won, here's how, here's who's pitching today, here's what they might think about it. Those basics are really important as you're following the story of a season. But the other way to utilize that access is to have those long-form conversations. I aim for one or two a week.”

So far, Martino has sat down with current Mets such as Bo Bichette, A.J. Ewing and Freddy Peralta and former Mets such as Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes (who appeared with Mets fan OG Anunoby shortly after the Knicks won the NBA title).

Beltran, the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and Mets front office executive who is getting his No. 15 retired by the team on Sept. 19, had a memorable interview in which he discussed aspects of his personal life and how it related to his career.

Martino and the Mets are betting that fans want to learn more about the players behind the scenes. As people.

“I think this will bring the fan base and people watching perspective about the human side of the baseball player,” Beltran said on the podcast. “Because at the end of the day, even though as a baseball player you put your gear on and you show up out there to play, we’re humans. We go through ups and downs, we go through family situations, and sometimes you have to put that aside because you have to perform.”

One sit-down that hasn’t happened yet: Cohen.

“There's nothing planned at the moment to have Steve on,” Martino said. “But there's also nothing in opposition to having Steve on. We're in our first few months of doing this. There's nothing scheduled, but there would be nothing to prevent Steve Cohen or anyone else in the organization, David Stearns [or] Andy Green, from appearing.”

Last question: How has it been launching this project in the middle of what has been, shall we say, a challenging season on the field for the Mets? Has it been like opening an ice cream stand on the deck of the Titanic?

“For me personally,” Martino said, “I bought into something that I believe was on an arc toward success that the Mets have never experienced in a sustained way. That's what I'm betting on. That's why I came here and one season has not changed my belief in that, nor has it changed the belief that I can sense around me.”