The ongoing legal battle between the Mariners organization & Dr. Lorena Martin

Last week, as we learned about the deeply upsetting accusations made by Dr. Lorena Martin against the Mariners, alleging racism and sexism permeates the club’s front office, it was difficult for us at LL to do anything other than try to process the information. While we are still very much preoccupied with this situation, and hold it in the forefront of our minds when thinking about and talking about the club, we are also coming to the point where the off-season is going to start churning in earnest. The deadline for adding players to the 40-man in order to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft is on Tuesday, meaning clubs will start to accelerate trade talks regarding prospects they have left unprotected in order to extract some value before losing them in the draft. Meanwhile, trade rumors regarding the current Mariners, most notably James Paxton, continue to swirl. Minor-league free agents are beginning to find homes with new clubs, and as the Mariners farm is perpetually barren at the upper minors, several of them are landing here. What would normally bring us joy—the Hot Stove season beginning to heat up, providing warmth for the long days of winter ahead—this year feels like a chore, and a dividing of focus from our primary concern, namely: if these charges are true, how do we go forward as Mariners fans?

And yet we have no idea when we will have movement on this story, and meanwhile, the wheels of baseball continue to grind. So we have created this Story Stream in order to collect all we know in one place, to provide updates when we have them, and we are pinning it on the front page as a reminder that everything that happens this off-season currently has an asterisk next to it. Baseball, even in the off-season, is a constant IV drip of information, and it’s easy to roll all the days and things together, Katamari-style. It’s easy to forget things. This is our promise, to ourselves and also to you, that we won’t forget. Because unlike the sexual harassment scandal and Kevin Mather’s continued employment with the team, which only came to light nearly a decade after the alleged incident, this situation is on our watch, and this time, fans know about it. Dipoto has made being the “glass door GM” his bread and butter; this incident should be no exception.