Last night the Mariners issued a statement condemning catcher Steve Clevenger’s comments on social media about the Black Lives Matter movement and the protests in Charlotte, North Carolina. Today they went further: they just suspended Clevenger for the remainder of the season without pay.
Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto said in a statement, “As soon as we became aware of the tweets posted by Steve yesterday we began to examine our options in regard to his standing on the team. Today we have informed him that he is suspended for the remainder of the season without pay.”
The Mariners have a right to suspend Clevenger pursuant to the league’s social media policy, adopted in 2012. Pursuant to the policy, players are prohibited from "[d]isplaying or transmitting Content that is derogatory or insensitive to individuals based on race, color, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or religion, including, but not limited to, slurs, jokes, stereotypes or other inappropriate remarks.”
Discipline under the policy can be issued by either the league or the club. In this case the Mariners decided to act before MLB had the chance to. Not that MLB is likely very unhappy about that.
In the meantime, it looks as though Clevenger will have some extra time on his hands.