Lorena Martin expands on accusations against Mariners

Lorena Martin, the former director of high performance for the Seattle Mariners, was fired from her post in early October. On Monday, she accused Mariners staff - including general manager Jerry Dipoto, manager Scott Servais, and director of player development Andy McKay - of poor leadership and racist comments describing Dominican players as "lazy, dumb, and stupid."

The Mariners denied the accusations and Martin has since expanded on her experiences. Despite publicly championing Martin after hiring her, she says Dipoto and McKay were inappropriate and insulting when discussing the idea of McKay taking over mental skills development, which was part of her contract, in a January meeting.

"And (Dipoto) said, 'You know what you are? You're a cocky Latina," Martin told TJ Cotterill of the Tacoma News Tribune.

"I said, 'No, I'm a confident person who is competent at what I do and I’ve been trained to do that. And later Andy said, 'Well, you know, sometimes you’re just plain stupid.' He loves to use that phrase - plain stupid.'"

She added that Dipoto was aggressive, intimidating, and repeatedly punched the wall in his office during another meeting.

Martin said she was also discriminated against, specifically by Servais, because she's a woman. When the staff was meeting with players in the clubhouse during spring training, she was told that she couldn't attend.

"He (Servais) said, 'No,'" Martin said. "I asked if he could tell me why and he said, 'Honestly, it’s because you are a woman.'

"You can’t make this stuff up. It’s just crazy. I went and told Jerry that I wasn’t allowed to sit with the players. He asked what Scott told me and I said it was because I’m a woman. He said, 'Then listen to him. Don’t be there.'"

Martin originally signed a three-year contract to serve as the Mariners' director of high performance - a first in Major League Baseball. She has hired an attorney and is pursuing a wrongful termination case.