In November, the Seattle Mariners fired Dr. Lorena Martin, who had been their director of high performance. In the wake of her dismissal, Dr. Martin took to Instagram to accuse members of the team’s front office of making racist comments against foreign-born players. The Mariners responded, denying Dr. Martin’s claims, calling them “false” and “outrageous.” Dr. Martin has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Mariners.
In the wake of those claims, Major League Baseball launched an investigation. The league just announced its findings:On November 13, 2018, Major League Baseball announced that it would investigate allegations made by Dr. Lorena Martin, a former employee of the Seattle Mariners, regarding her treatment by the organization and her claims that senior Club officials made derogatory and inappropriate comments. The investigation was conducted by Epstein Becker Green, a national law firm specializing in labor and employment matters, whose attorneys interviewed seventeen potential witnesses, including Dr. Martin.
The firm did not uncover credible evidence that the Mariners, or any of its employees, violated Major League Baseball’s Workplace Code of Conduct, or applicable anti-discrimination law, in the treatment of Dr. Martin or the termination of her employment. The investigation also concluded that there is no credible evidence to support Dr. Martin’s claim that Mariners’ employees, including Jerry Dipoto, Scott Servais, or Andy McKay, made any of the comments attributed to them in her public statement or subsequent lawsuit.
Because of the ongoing litigation, MLB will have no further comment on this matter.
And that, I presume, will be that. At least unless or until Martin’s lawsuit uncovers anything missed by MLB’s investigators.
