The arc of Tyler Skaggs’ dependence on painkillers and the clubhouse culture of exchanging them came under scrutiny during Dec. 2 testimony in the wrongful death trial filed by the late pitcher’s family against the Los Angeles Angels.
Skaggs’ widow, Carli, took the stand for a second time – this time under questioning from the Angels – as did Skaggs’ former primary care physician as the ballclub aimed to shift the onus for Skaggs’ 2019 death on the pitcher rather than former communications director Eric Kay, who is serving a 22-year sentence for providing a fentanyl-laced pill that resulted in Skaggs’ death.
In testimony reported by The Athletic, Carli Skaggs said it was ‘sad (the players) felt like this was what they needed to do,’ amid a culture where returning from injury and playing through pain was paramount. Attorneys for the Angels displayed a text message exchange between Skaggs and former Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker in which Skaggs asked the right-hander for a pain pill ‘so I can take it during the game haha,’ and Shoemaker replied in the affirmative.
‘Tyler was the ringleader,’ Angels attorney Todd Theodora said, per The Athletic, outside the presence of the jury. ‘Tyler has his fingerprints over everything. Their claim is that Tyler is as pure as the driven snow.’
Yet the plaintiffs gained a key victory when the judge ruled they could use deposition testimony between Kay and a Texas police detective in which the Angels employee claimed his direct supervisor had knowledge that Kay’s relationship with Skaggs involved drug use or distribution.
Skaggs’ former physician also testified that Skaggs successfully kicked a Percocet habit in 2013 ‘cold turkey,’ as he’d claimed. A year later, Skaggs underwent Tommy John elbow surgery.
The judge had ruled the Angels hadn’t proven Skaggs’ drug dependency was continuous since 2013, eliminating a trove of text messages the ballclub hoped to use in evidence.