Former Mariners Director of High Performance Lorena Martin accused the organization of systemic racism throughout management Monday a month after she was relieved of her duties.
“The things I’ve witnessed and heard first hand have left me shocked,” Martin wrote in a tweet.
Martin posted on social media that the Mariners management has “major issues,” including calling Latino players lazy, dumb, and stupid. She called out upper level management for their alleged behavior, including General Manager Jerry Dipoto, Manager Scott Servais, and Director of Player Development Andy McKay.
“And then they wonder why they didn’t make it to the playoffs,” Martin wrote in a tweet. “Leadership is to blame, under Jerry Dipoto’s leadership no team has made the playoffs. All talk, no substance. Poor leadership. “
Martin also alleged the Mariners have fired “innocent trainers” because of the color of their skin.
The Mariners denied the allegation that the team had fired or threatened to fire trainers during the off-season. The team also said the claims that management made racist comments were untrue.
“While it is our policy to not comment on personnel issues, we do feel it is important to respond to the outrageous, false claims made by her today on social media,” the Mariners said in a statement. “And to note that Martin did not make any of these false allegations until after she was relieved of her duties.”
Martin was relieved of her duties October 10, according to the Mariners.
A second statement Tweeted by the Mariners reads:
It is our general policy to not comment on confidential personnel issues. However, Lorena Martin has elected to publicly comment on her personnel matters, and we cannot allow the false and ludicrous allegations in the story posted tonight on the Tacoma News Tribune's website to go unchallenged.
The claims by Lorena Martin are fabricated, including her statements about reports to Human Resources and specific allegations about people named in the story.
We are still trying to sort through all the statements that are being made publicly by Ms. Martin and we will continue to defend ourselves against false accusations.
The Mariners hired Martin in October 2017 as the organization’s first high-performance director to coordinate player and staff physical and mental training, including medical, strength and conditioning, nutrition, and mental skills.
Martin says on her Twitter page she was the MLB’s first female director of high performance.
