WASHINGTON — The Astros fired assistant general manager Brandon Taubman on Thursday, concluding one chapter of a ghastly saga that has hijacked this World Series.
Still to be determined: Whether the Astros pay any further price, be it in discipline or dollars, for their initial attempts to smear the Sports Illustrated reporter who broke the story documenting Taubman’s job-ending behavior.
Jeff Luhnow, the Astros’ president of baseball operations and general manager, informed Taubman, a graduate of Syosset High School on Long Island, of his fate on Thursday morning. Taubman, the Astros made clear first in a statement then in a Luhnow news conference at Nationals Park, targeted at least one female journalist Saturday night, moments after the Astros eliminated the Yankees in the AL Championship Series, when he shouted, “Thank God we got Osuna! I’m so f—–g glad we got Osuna!”
The woman, who was standing with two other female journalists at the time of the tirade, wore a purple bracelet recognizing domestic violence and peacefully protested the Astros’ acquisition last year of closer Roberto Osuna, who served a 75-game suspension for violating baseball’s domestic-violence rules, by tweeting out phone numbers of women’s services each time Osuna took the mound.
“His conduct does not reflect the values of our organization, and we believe this is the most appropriate course of action,” the Astros wrote of Taubman.
Such a statement would carry more water if the Astros hadn’t chosen first to attack the messenger, Sports Illustrated’s Stephanie Apstein, with a statement calling the story “misleading and completely irresponsible” and an “attempt to fabricate a story where one does not exist.”
On Thursday, the Astros wrote, “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.”
The post-incident dumpster fire occurred, Luhnow acknowledged, as a result of a minimal attempt to determine the truth. Taubman lied to his superiors about what transpired and produced a corroborating witness, and the Astros couldn’t wait to put out the fire — only to see it grow exponentially when multiple corroborating witnesses to the SI story instantly emerged.
“I think when a story comes out that’s negative, you have two choices: You either respond immediately if you think it’s potentially not true, or you wait and figure out what the facts are and then respond,” Luhnow said. “And we made the wrong decision. We responded quickly thinking that it was not true. And it turned out that that was an incorrect way to go about it.”Luhnow would not identify the person who wrote the statement, saying, “There were a lot of people involved in reviewing it, looking at it, approving it. It was on behalf of the Astros.” He said that he was one of those people.
Though Major League Baseball was very much in the loop regarding Taubman’s situation and strongly encouraged Luhnow to take questions, it also has the power to fine the organization and suspend other employees. What happens next will serve as a good test for commissioner Rob Manfred, who does not revel in mixing it up with team owners — his bosses, after all — anywhere as much as he seems to enjoy public skirmishes with Players Association executive director Tony Clark and the players themselves.
“The person that was responsible for making those inappropriate comments has been terminated from employment with the Astros. And that’s the action that we’ve taken at this point,” Luhnow said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.”