Houston PR vs. the media

I don't think Taubman was keeping his job in any way, shape or form in a "competent handling" scenario.

The way to have done it was to put him on immediate indefinite suspension/leave, investigate thoroughly, come to the obvious conclusion, and cut him in a few weeks.

From afar, it seems like the Astros may have had some ax to grind with the reporter in question for things she's tweeted before, and Taubman, half in the bag, had that line ready to deliver.

 

The Astros swung and missed three different times with their reaction

1. Trashing SI and saying "FAKE NEWS"
2. Giving the "I apologize if anyone was offended" and talking about their chickenfeed charitable works
3. The GM going on the radio yesterday saying that there are two sides

So why was the douchebag the only one fired?

 

this is purely a guess, but I would guess that Taubman was directly involved in the first statement—if he didn't write it, it was based on a false account that he gave—and that was why the axe came so quickly for him. because that first statement was demonstrably false and libelous.

i don't root for people to get fired generally (or hurt etc.). But I am pleased by today's news.

 

The only way I see Taubman somehow keeping his job is if he admitted to being an idiot the night it happened or the Astros suspended him before the SI story came out. In that scenario, there's a sliver of hope for him to stay on board. But the moment the story dropped and the organization doubled down, he was gone. And just so we're perfectly clear, the right decision was ultimately made. Someone like that in the front office has to go. At the very least, he was a walking liability.

 

He won't be the last one gone. MLB is involved now, and now that Taubman is fired, you're going to hear the word "culture" from the media. And though it's thrown around a lot - too much - it is appropriate here. I doubt Taubman is alone, among Stros brass, in having it out for this particular woman.

Could be a reckoning coming in Houston. Players will be pissed, too.

 

Not for nothing but why is a team exec half-drunk while technically on the job?
I am no prude but this is a no-no for me whether you're an AGM or the ice cream man.

 

Do we know that? I haven't heard that

 

First of what ought to be many firings. Clean house and start over

 

"I can give him to ya (big, wide smile)."

 

They're really going out of their way to be assholes. One has to assume that's because that's what the owner wants.

 

Sorry, Jeff, for losing sight of the real victim in all of this.