A little over a year ago, the Mariners announced they were adding Dr. Lorena Martin as the team’s first ever director of high performance.
Here’s how the team announced it at the time:
“We have spent nearly a year working on creating this position and structure as well as identifying the best person for this role,” Dipoto said. “Lorena’s background, skill set and previous experience make her a perfect match for what we envisioned.
“Major League Baseball has lagged behind many professional sports leagues, including the NBA, Premier Soccer and others, in using big data to assist in both injury prevention and peak performance,” Dipoto continued. “We are excited to better connect all of the services we currently provide to our players throughout the organization and add the information that Dr. Martin can reveal to better assist the team in staying healthy and, ultimately, winning more games.”
Martin’s time with the team ended after just one year, and in the wake of her termination, she’s accused DiPoto and other members of the Mariners front office and staff of racist remarks made about players within the organization.
The Mariners organization has issues.
The things I’ve witnessed first hand have left me shocked, GM Jerry Dipoto, Manager Scott Servais, and Director of PD Andy McKay speak about players like this
Calling LATINOS, LAZY, DUMB, and STUPID, especially DOMINICANS#discrimination pic.twitter.com/ie5uxyxq15— Lorena Martin (@LMHighPerform) November 12, 2018
Martin went on from there in a thread:
It’s come to the point where I have to speak out because they are firing innocent trainers for trying to do the right thing and because of their color/race.
#ESPN— Lorena Martin (@LMHighPerform) November 12, 2018
Martin also says the team attempted to compensate her in exchange for her silence:
They wanted to negotiate to keep me quiet.
— Lorena Martin (@LMHighPerform) November 12, 2018
This feels like the kind of thing that should at least warrant an investigation. Context is obviously important, too; yes, Martin was recently let go, which some view as a potential motive to make things up in a revenge effort. But it’s just as easy to see that as the impetus for speaking out; many people can’t afford to lose their job and therefore don’t speak out when they witness similar types of behavior Martin is alleging.
Hopefully her allegations are at least taken seriously.
