ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals do not expect Major League Baseball to levy any punishment against Carlos Martinez or Marcell Ozuna for their involvement in a July 2014 fight outside a St. Louis-area strip club, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said Friday.
The incident was back in the news Friday after the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a cell phone video of the skirmish, along with interviews that investigators conducted with Martinez and the late Oscar Taveras at Busch Stadium five days after the fight. In those interviews, former teammate Tony Cruz can be seen serving as a translator.
Mozeliak said the organization was made aware of the incident by local authorities at the time and "cooperated as fully as possible as the employer." The Cardinals also knew of Ozuna's involvement before they acquired him from Miami last December. The incident happened while Ozuna was in town with the Marlins during a July 4-6, 2014, series against the Cardinals.
Because a civil case is still pending against Martinez, Mozeliak could not comment extensively about the situation. Ozuna, according to documents obtained by the Post-Dispatch, had previously reached a confidential settlement with the man who is suing Martinez for money to cover medical bills related to injuries sustained that night.
No criminal charges have been filed.
Martinez is currently pitching out of the bullpen for the Cardinals, while Ozuna is set to come off the 10-day disabled list Saturday. Neither has commented publicly on the situation.
"I don't anticipate [this to be] any distraction," manager Mike Shildt said. "I think those guys have a positive clubhouse presence here, and I don't know enough about the situation to have a grasp on it, quite honestly. But these guys have credibility in the clubhouse."