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Steve Clevenger suspended by Mariners after controversial tweets

Mike Oz

The other shoe has dropped in the Steve Clevenger saga: The Seattle Mariners have suspended the injured catcher for the rest of the season because of racially-charged tweets about the Charlotte protests, the Black Lives Matter movement and President Obama.

General manager Jerry Dipoto said in a statement:

“As soon as we became aware of the tweets posted by Steve yesterday we began to examine all of 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.”

Clevenger was already on the 60-day disabled list and wasn’t going to play this season anyway. This isn’t about playing time, rather they’re punishing him in his wallet. He’ll now forfeit the remainder of his $516,500 salary for this season. That comes out to about $31,900 for the final 10 games.

The Mariners suspended catcher Steve Clevenger for his tweets about the Charlotte protests. (Getty Images)
The Mariners suspended catcher Steve Clevenger for his tweets about the Charlotte protests. (Getty Images)

The tweets that started all this came Thursday afternoon in response to the protests in Charlotte that had turned violent the night before. Protestors were upset about the death of Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old African-American man, who was shot and killed by police Tuesday. When the protests turned violent, one person was shot (and later died), 16 police officers were injured and multiple police vehicles were damaged.

Here are screenshots of his Clevenger’s tweets taken before he made his Twitter account private. The most incendiary part was Clevenger saying “everyone involved should be locked behind bars like animals.”

Clevenger issued a statement on Thursday night, apologizing for the incident and maintaining that he’s not a racist. His statement read:

“First and foremost I would like to apologize to the Seattle Mariners, my teammates, my family and the fans of our great game for the distraction my tweets on my personal twitter page caused when they went public earlier today. I am sickened by the idea that anyone would think of me in racist terms. My tweets were reactionary to the events I saw on the news and were worded beyond poorly at best and I can see how and why someone could read into my tweets far more deeply than how I actually feel.

“I grew up on the streets of Baltimore, a city I love to this very day. I grew up in a very culturally diverse area of America and I am very proud to come from there. I am also proud that my inner circle of friends has never been defined by race but by the content of their character. Any former teammate or anyone who has met me can attest to this and I pride myself on not being a judgemental person. I just ask that the public not judge me because of an ill worded tweet.

“I do believe that supporting our First Amendment rights and supporting local law enforcement are not mutually exclusive. With everything going on in the world I really just want what is best for everyone regardless of who they are. I like many Americans are frustrated by a lot of things in the world and I would like to be a part of the dialogue moving forward to make this a better world for everyone.

“I once again apologize to anyone who was offended today and I just ask you not judge me off of a social media posting. Thank you and God bless everyone.”

The bigger questions now are about Clevenger’s future. He’s a 30-year-old backup catcher who hasn’t played more than 69 games in any season of his six-year MLB career. He’s a career .227 hitter with four homers. The Mariners have him under team control until 2020. He’s arbitration eligible in 2017.

Will the Mariners cut him loose in the offseason? If so, would another team sign him? These things remain to be seen.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!