Brandon Taubman
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Brandon Taubman (born ) is an American former
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
executive who was an assistant general manager for the
Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...
of
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB). A former investment banker, he became a member of general manager
Jeff Luhnow Jeff Luhnow (born June 8, 1966) is a Mexican-American former baseball executive and owner of Mexican club Cancún F.C. and CD Leganés of Spain. He worked for the St. Louis Cardinals in their scouting department from 2003 through 2011, before j ...
's front office that rebuilt the Astros, culminating in a
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
title in 2017. Taubman was fired in 2019 for inappropriate comments he made around a group of female reporters following the
American League Championship Series The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the American ...
(ALCS). He was subsequently placed on MLB's ineligible list.


Early life

Taubman grew up on
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, New York, where he was a fan of the
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
. He attended Syosset High School. He then attended
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics in 2007.


Investment banking career

After college, Taubman valued
derivatives The derivative of a function is the rate of change of the function's output relative to its input value. Derivative may also refer to: In mathematics and economics * Brzozowski derivative in the theory of formal languages * Formal derivative, an ...
for
Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...
before joining
Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...
in 2010. While with Barclays, he spent his spare time playing daily fantasy baseball. Taubman and a close friend developed a projection system which they used to win 58 percent of the time, a significant increase over the break-even mark of 53 percent.


Baseball career


Astros' rebuild

Taubman was hired by the
Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...
in 2013 after he responded to their ad for an economist on Fangraphs. He began as a baseball operations analyst under general manager
Jeff Luhnow Jeff Luhnow (born June 8, 1966) is a Mexican-American former baseball executive and owner of Mexican club Cancún F.C. and CD Leganés of Spain. He worked for the St. Louis Cardinals in their scouting department from 2003 through 2011, before j ...
, and was assigned to build a model to improve player valuations. Luhnow was in his second season of an organizational rebuild, which saw the Astros lose a franchise-record 111 games. By
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
, Houston won the
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
. In
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
, Taubman was promoted from senior director of baseball operations to assistant general manager. The Astros enjoyed their third straight 100-win season in
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, and he received a multi-year contract extension in September.


Clubhouse outburst

On October 19, 2019, during clubhouse celebrations after the Astros won Game6 of the
2019 ALCS The 2019 American League Championship Series was a best-of-seven series between the two winners of the 2019 American League Division Series, the Houston Astros and New York Yankees, for the American League (AL) pennant and the right to play in t ...
, Taubman taunted a group of nearby female reporters by aggressively praising Astros relief pitcher
Roberto Osuna Roberto Osuna Quintero Jr. (born February 7, 1995) is a Mexican professional baseball pitcher for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays and Hous ...
, an alleged
domestic abuser Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner v ...
. He repeatedly yelled about six times, "Thank God we got Osuna! I'm so fucking glad we got Osuna!" Osuna had been acquired in 2018 while serving a 75-game suspension after domestic violence accusations. He had been receiving fan and media attention at the time for having just given up a critical two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning, jeopardizing the team's eventual win. Taubman, who was involved in the acquisition of Osuna, was defensive of Osuna's performance as a reliever and overall presence on the team. Taubman had previously complained about the fact that one of the reporters in the group had a practice of
tweeting Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, ...
out a domestic violence hotline number whenever Osuna took the mound for the Astros. At the time of Taubman's outburst, that same reporter was wearing a domestic violence awareness bracelet. On October 21, 2019, another reporter in the group, Stephanie Apstein, published an article in ''
Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'' describing the incident. Apstein had previously notified the Astros of the upcoming story and had sought comment from Taubman or the team's management, which the team had declined. When the team initially questioned Taubman on the incident, he said his comments in support of Osuna were made in the context of a discussion with someone else and were not directed at the group of female reporters. The Astros took Taubman's statement at face value and issued a press release condemning the article as "misleading and completely irresponsible." After the team issued its initial press release criticizing the story, multiple witnesses came forward to corroborate Apstein's account of the events. Taubman issued an apology for his use of inappropriate language in the clubhouse.


MLB ban

On October 24, 2019, the Astros fired Taubman and acknowledged that his outburst was directed at the group of reporters, contrary to the team's initial statement. Luhnow said that the initial statement attacking Apstein's reporting "should have never been sent." He also stated that he and other Astros executives were initially inclined to side with Taubman because he had never behaved in such a manner before. Luhnow personally apologized to Apstein on October 25, just before Game 3 of the
2019 World Series The 2019 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2019 season. The 115th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League champion Houston Astros and the National League ...
. The next day, team owner
Jim Crane James Robert Crane (born January 17, 1954) is an American businessman from Houston, Texas. Crane is chairman and chief executive of Crane Capital Group, Crane Worldwide Logistics, and Crane Freight and Shipping. He is also the owner and chairma ...
apologized to Apstein on behalf of the Astros and formally retracted the team's initial statement. On January 13, 2020, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced that Taubman had been placed on MLB's ineligible list through at least the end of the 2020 season. Manfred stated that as a result of an MLB investigation into Taubman's behavior, he had placed Taubman on the ineligible list on November 15, 2019 pending completion of an investigation into sign stealing by the Astros from 2017 to 2018. Taubman was interviewed for the sign stealing investigation and denied any knowledge of it. However, Manfred felt it was not necessary to delve further into Taubman's possible culpability for any role he might have played in the sign stealing, concluding that Taubman's "inappropriate conduct in the clubhouse" after the ALCS win was enough in and of itself to demand a lengthy suspension. Manfred sharply criticized the culture of the Astros' baseball operations department, saying that its emphasis on "results over other considerations" fostered an environment that led to Taubman's outburst and the Astros' initially "inappropriate and inaccurate response." Taubman was eligible to apply for reinstatement after the
2020 World Series The 2020 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's 2020 season. The 116th World Series was a best-of-seven-playoff between the American League (AL) champion Tampa Bay Rays and the National League (NL) champion Los Ang ...
, but will be permanently banned from baseball if he commits another "material violation" of MLB rules.


Real estate career

After baseball, Taubman was hired as chief information officer of Stablewood Properties, a
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
-based real estate operator.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taubman, Brandon 1980s births Living people Cornell University alumni Houston Astros executives Ernst & Young people Barclays people