MLB not done looking into Astros' clubhouse incident
Just because the Houston Astros fired assistant general manager Brandon Taubman on Thursday for inappropriate comments toward a group of female reporters last week, does not mean that Major League Baseball is done looking into the incident.
Commissioner Rob Manfred said the league will continue the investigation into the matter after the World Series is completed, with no timetable on how long the next phase will take.
"I will say that there are a variety of issues," Manfred told reporters before Game 3 of the World Series on Friday between the Washington Nationals and Astros. "I'm not going to narrow the statement. We're going to continue to review the situation, have conversations with (Astros owner Jim) Crane. It's one thing to comment and investigate for 24 hours on a specific incident."
According to a story Monday by Sports Illustrated's Stephanie Apstein, Taubman taunted three female reporters following the Astros' pennant-clinching win against the New York Yankees.
Taubman shouted about Astros closer Robert Osuna, whom the team acquired last season while he was serving a 75-game ban for allegedly assaulting a woman. One of the reporters was wearing a purple bracelet for domestic violence awareness.
"Thank God we got Osuna!" he yelled, according to Apstein. "I'm so (expletive) glad we got Osuna!"
The Astros initially called Apstein's story "misleading" and "irresponsible."
Following interviews of media members and Astros employees conducted over the past several days by the team and by MLB, the team admitted its mistake.
Manfred sounded as if the league wants to discuss with the Astros just how poorly it handled the situation from the start.
"I didn't say that there is going to be further action, but there are things we want to talk to the Astros about, continuing to have those conversations and gather information," Manfred said. "I think it was important that they recognize that they had made a mistake. They issued an apology and they dealt with the individual situation in a decisive way, and those are all positives."
--Field Level Media
