Phillies

The Astros Fired Their Assistant GM in the Middle of the World Series

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Oct 24th, 2019 · 5:07 PM EDT

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What a PR debacle in Houston:

The Houston Astros have fired assistant general manager Brandon Taubman.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 24, 2019

So here’s what happened:

1. Houston Astros closer Roberto Osuna was suspended 75 games last season for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy. They traded for him after that incident, which involved the mother of his child.
2. This Taubman guy apparently taunted a group of female reporters during the ALCS victory celebration, yelling “Thank God we got Osuna! I’m so fucking glad we got Osuna!”. One woman was wearing a purple bracelet signifying domestic violence awareness.
3. Among that group of reporters, Stephanie Apstein, wrote about the incident for Sports Illustrated, which the Astros called “misleading and completely irresponsible,” basically accusing her of pushing fake news.
4. MLB was pissed at that statement and began to investigate.
5. The Astros backtracked and Taubman apologized.
6. Taubman was then fired.

The gist, if I understand it correctly, is that Apstein had been outspoken about domestic violence in the past and questioned the decision to trade for Osuna. So Taubman was basically taunting her and the other women specifically during the victory celebration.

The Astros offered another statement:

In a statement announcing the firing of Brandon Taubman, the Astros admitted their initial accounting of the incident in the clubhouse was incorrect — “We were wrong,” it says — and offered an apology to @stephapstein, the reporter who first wrote about it. pic.twitter.com/5yjRrmvVVl

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 24, 2019

Shit show!