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In a late-dropped interview with the Tacoma News-Tribune, Dr. Lorena Martin expanded significantly on her allegations of discrimination and racism by key Mariners staff. Her conversation with TJ Cotterill can be found here. The key takeaways from her allegations:
Reached for clarification on Monday night, Martin told The News Tribune that Dipoto, in a meeting with Martin and McKay in January, called her a “cocky Latina.” In that same meeting McKay said Dominican players are “just plain stupid” and, in a separate meeting, Servais told her that you don’t see Latino catchers or managers because “they aren’t bright enough. They are dumb.”
“Just this really aggressive behavior to intimidate me,” Martin said. “And he says, ‘this is (expletive). You keep getting after Andy.’ I said it had nothing to do with Andy, it’s just in my contract.’ And he kept punching the wall in the office, like big time.
“And then he was like, ‘Walk with me.’ We go downstairs and he kicks a door open and says (expletive) … at that point I was just saying I’m trying to do my job and oversee the department I’m supposed to oversee.”
“[Servais] said, ‘No,’” Martin said. “I asked if he could tell me why and he said, ‘Honestly, it’s because you are a woman.’
There’s a lot there. Hopefully, there will be an investigation—though I’m not sure it would raise too much and the Mariners have a spotty recent track record with internal reviews of executive misconduct. Obviously, taken at face value as true this is all genuinely shocking conduct, and no doubt more will be forthcoming. In the meantime, it’s another black eye for a franchise that has had to turn to the black market for a fresh supply of eyes to be blackened.
A final note: we (meaning more connected staffers than I) have been told that Dr. Martin and the Mariners will likely end up resolving this dispute through binding arbitration. This is a common contractual feature that would allow final resolution without submitting the dispute to a formal court of law, with both parties agreeing that the arbitrator’s decision is essentially final. This would greatly favor the Mariners’ certain desire to keep any possible dirty laundry out of the public eye.