By Josh Finkelstein

On Monday night, Stephanie Apstein of Sports Illustrated did a phenomenal job in reporting an incident that was regrettable, to say the least, when Houston Astros’ Assistant GM, Brandon Taubman, went to a group of female reporters after game six of the ALCS and screamed multiple times, “Thank God we got Osuna! I’m so f—— glad we got Osuna!”

Taubman said that while one of those female reporters was wearing a domestic violence bracelet. According to David Folkenflik of On Point Radio, Taubman targeted that female reporter. As mentioned in the article, she would often tweet about domestic violence and did so during games in which Roberto Osuna pitched.

The situation only got worse when the Astros decided to intervene, and not for the reason they should have.

Rome of the Houston Chronicle later confirmed in his own piece that two reporters on his own writing staff and three eyewitnesses total had been able to confirm Apstein’s report.

But, as can be seen above, the Astros chose to discredit her report and accused Sports Illustrated of trying “to fabricate a story where one does not exist.”

Only after being caught covering up the situation did the Astros organization attempt to apologize for the incident with MLB while also choosing to break its silence on the issue.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post also adds that the league has dispatched investigators from New York City to speak with the reporters who witnessed Taubman’s inappropriate behavior.

 

Last summer, the Astros acquired Osuna from the Toronto Blue Jays as he was serving a 75-game suspension in accordance with MLB’s domestic violence policy.

According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, Astros GM Jeff Luhnow went through with the trade knowing that many of his own employees were “appalled by the deal.”

With all of that taken into account, the Astros organization and MLB have done a very poor job with regards to properly addressing the issue of domestic violence.

As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic smartly pointed out, the Astros have still failed to properly address why they referred to Apstein’s story in such a disturbing and slanderous manner. As it is, they took close to 18 hours to address the matter at all.

What the Astros did on Monday night was an attempt to bring us back to a place where we did not acknowledge domestic violence for their own benefit.

Their interest in doing so was known on the day the front office decided to disregard the lack of comfort it brought to many members of their own organization and fanbase when they acquired Osuna in the first place.

They did so seeing an opportunity to acquire a talented closer for a fraction of the price, with the price probably being much higher in terms of assets had this domestic violence incident not occurred.

This situation on Monday night and their very ignorant decision back in 2018 highlights the very problem with how domestic violence in baseball has been handled.

There’s this idea that since MLB instituted their domestic violence policy back in 2015, that whatever the league determines as a valid punishment for a player is enough to just simply forgive and forget about it once they serve their suspension.

And if you think that this isn’t true, look no further than New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner’s comments about Aroldis Chapman, who also served a suspension for domestic violence, in which he asked, “Sooner or later, we forget, right?”

As Apstein alluded to at the end of her article, we don’t ever just forget. Maybe MLB thinks it’s resolved, but they are wrong for thinking the rest of us do.

The fact is that we don’t just simply forgive and forget, because the victims of these violent acts don’t get to just move on and never think about it again.

Instead, they are constantly reminded of the traumatic event that occurred while the people who committed the crime get to run off free with a slap on the wrist.

Especially in the case of MLB, I think this is important to discuss.

As we sit here and watch domestic violence become one of the most prevalent topics in the country, the league continues to miss on their attempts to properly handle these situations.

MLB and the Houston Astros set a tone that is simply unacceptable. They chose to side with a domestic abuser and his apologists over the millions of people who have been affected by domestic violence.

That has ramifications that I think none of the parties involved really truthfully understand.

When you are in a position of power and are given a platform, you have a chance to make a decision that will have long-ranging consequences on other incidents of this nature done in a more private manner.

However, it can have an adverse effect if the parties involved choose to undermine the cause.

In the case of this situation, they have sadly done just that and have effectively chosen to try and silence victims instead of standing behind them.

These decisions give off the impression that if you are incredibly talented in sports that you shall not receive a lengthy punishment for these egregious acts and, essentially, they are setting up domestic violence cases to have a two-prong litmus test. One, did you commit a violent act? And two, is your talent level high enough that it’s worth keeping around?

With regards to Hal Steinbrenner, members of the Astros organization, and MLB, I leave you with a question to answer as you determine how to address this issue in the future.

Would you be able to simply “move on” from these situations if you were the victim or someone close to them?

The answer is pretty clear and it’s time to show some empathy and do better from now on.