Seattle Mariners deny fired exec’s claims of racism against Latino players

SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners are denying claims made by the club’s recently fired training and conditioning director, who said team management had disparaged Latino players.

The Mariners issued a statement on Monday following the social-media postings from Lorena Martin in which she claimed general manager Jerry Dipoto, manager Scott Servais and director of player development Andy McKay had called Latino players “lazy, dumb and stupid, especially the Dominicans.” Martin, whose title with the team was director of high performance, posted her message on Instagram and Twitter.

The Mariners said Martin, who was hired with much fanfare last year, was relieved of her duties on Oct. 10.

“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. And to note that Martin did not make any of these false allegations until after she was relieved of her duties,” the Mariners statement said.

“The Mariners categorically deny that any member of our management or coaching staff made racist remarks regarding any of our players or staff. Additionally, we have not terminated [or threatened to terminate] any trainers during the off-season,” the statement continued.

In her posting, Martin called Dipoto a “poor leader” and said the Mariners would not make the playoffs with the current leadership. She said her posting was “a glimpse of what I’ve experienced.” In a later comment on Twitter, Martin said there was a breach of contract by the Mariners and she had reported “discriminatory incidences” to human resources and other staff members during the season.

The Mariners created the role for Martin to help improve training practices and prevent injuries. She had previously been with the Los Angeles Lakers.