Rob Manfred: MLB Reviewing Astros' Handling of Brandon Taubman Incident

Major League Baseball will continue its investigation into the Houston Astros' handling of the situation involving former assistant general manager Brandon Taubman. 

Per ESPN's Bradford Doolittle, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the league will have conversations with the Astros. 

"I will say that there are a variety of issues," he said. "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."

Taubman was fired by the Astros on Thursday in the wake of a story from Sports Illustrated's Stephanie Apstein that detailed him turning to a group of female reporters during the team's celebration after clinching the ALCS and shouting, "Thank God we got Osuna! I'm so f--king glad we got Osuna!"

Roberto Osuna, Houston's closer, was arrested and charged with assaulting Alejandra Roman Cota, the mother of his son, in May 2018.

The charge was dropped in September 2018 when Roman Cota declined to return to Canada from Mexico to testify in the case. Osuna agreed to a peace bond that prevented him from having contact with Roman Cota without her written consent. 

The Astros initially attempted to discredit Apstein in a statement released Monday, calling her report "misleading and completely irresponsible" because "an Astros player was being asked questions about a difficult outing" and Taubman was supporting the player and did not direct his comments at the female reporters.

Per Ben Strauss of the Washington Post, Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow met with Apstein prior to Game 3 of the World Series on Friday. Apstein asked for a retraction to the team's original statement, but Luhnow "didn't commit to issuing one."

Taubman had been working in Houston's front office since 2013. He was promoted to assistant general manager in 2018 and received a contract extension earlier this season.