Now we know Brandon Taubman celebrated that ALCS victory over the New York Yankees too hard. Not only are the Astros in a 2-0 hole and heading to Washington to play the next three, but the negative press continues to pour out surrounding the team.
On Thursday, they fired their assistant general manager Taubman. This report came first from Jeff Passan.
The Houston Astros have fired assistant general manager Brandon Taubman.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 24, 2019
However, let’s back up a moment. Here’s why Taubman got fired. After Jose Altuve hit the game-winning home run in game six of the ALCS off Aroldis Chapman, Taubman went rogue. Allegedly, he said the following quote:
“Thank God we got Osuna! I’m so f—— glad we got Osuna!” at a group of female reporters.
Now, why would that be a bad idea you ask? Notably, Roberto Osuna is the reliever who got in trouble for serious domestic violence just before joining Houston in 2018. Furthermore, the Astros have done all they can to try to keep quiet on this issue, and Taubman’s outburst was completely opposite of that organizational goal.
During the Astros’ ALCS celebration, assistant GM Brandon Taubman yelled, half a dozen times, to three female reporters, “Thank God we got Osuna! I’m so f——— glad we got Osuna!” On a systemic problem, in Houston and across the league: https://t.co/8zyVwG2Lpo
— Stephanie Apstein (@stephapstein) October 22, 2019
Still, before terminating Taubman; the Astros investigated the comments Taubman directed at the female reporter. However, the team didn’t find fault in their assistant general manager at first.
“Our initial investigation led us to believe that Brandon Taubman’s inappropriate comments were not directed toward any reporter,” the Astros said in Thursday’s statement. “We were wrong. We sincerely apologize to Stephanie Apstein, Sports Illustrated and to all individuals who witnessed this incident or were offended by the inappropriate conduct. The Astros in no way intended to minimize the issues related to domestic violence.”
Next, the team took a deep dive into the incident; allegedly. It was then that they say they found the proper cause to fire Taubman. The statement from above continues:
“Our initial belief was based on witness statements about the incident. Subsequent interviews have revealed that Taubman’s inappropriate comments were, in fact, directed toward one or more reporters. Accordingly we have terminated Brandon Taubman’s employment with the Houston Astros. His conduct does not reflect the values of our organization and we believe this is the most appropriate course of action.”
Finally, it sounds like the Astros would like to have kept Taubman around. Still, you cannot do this as a big league front office executive. Also, the Houston Astros need no more bad press. Recently, there were stories about George Springer making homophobic remarks towards an umpire and of course the sign-stealing talk seems to have the team in disarray. Now it seems of little importance that the Astros opened as the largest World Series favorites since 2007. If you’re going to win this series, it’s going to take a lot of good baseball and focus on their part.
