The Los Angeles Angels and the family of late pitcher Tyler Skaggs are locked in a wrongful death lawsuit. It’s shining a harsh light on the franchise’s internal dynamics, and now in the middle of it is one of baseball’s biggest stars—Mike Trout. 

The Angels’ defense now is contending that they overstated Skaggs’ career potential. Even suggesting that his future earnings were limited anyway.

Angels PR official Matt Birch testified, saying, “The No. 1 (pitcher) is what’s known as your ace. That’s your best pitcher that you want starting on Opening Day or in big games. Tyler stacked up as one of our back-end of the rotation guys; he would be in that four or five spot.” 

Birch claimed that Skaggs was not in the All-Star mix and often faded late in the season. And that he was rarely the subject of media requests!

Skaggs had died on July 1, 2019, after ingesting a fentanyl-laced pill provided by then Los Angeles Angels communication director Eric Kay. And he is serving a 22-year federal prison sentence right now. But the Angels maintain their stance that they should not be held responsible for Kay’s actions and that Skaggs’ value as a player was modest compared to what his family claims.

Because Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and his parents, Debra Hetman and Darrell Skaggs, are looking for $118 million in damages from the Angels franchise. This is for the lost earnings and even the emotional distress. The Angels, on the other hand, argue the number should be between $0 and $30 million. But Skaggs’ family attorney, Daniel Dutko, pushed back on that narrative. He mentioned that the Angels’ 2019 pitching statistics from Baseball-Reference.com show that Skaggs has a 4.29 ERA, which is the best among the team starters.

Mike Trout, who is Skaggs’s close friend and longtime teammate, also took the stand. And he mentioned that he never saw Skaggs use substances, but was aware that Kay for sure had a substance abuse problem. Trout even shared emotional memories from their early days, living together as 18-year-olds in Cedar Rapids in 2010 and even attending Skaggs’ wedding in 2018.

And as far as Skaggs’ death is concerned, Trout was asked about his reaction, and he said, “Cried. Because I loved him… Loved him like a brother.”

Ex-Wife of Eric Kay testifies that Angels “failed” her husband 

The case has taken another dramatic turn as the ex-wife of Eric Kay testified that the Angels “failed” her husband. Camela Kay told the court that she had witnessed Angel’s players drinking and passing around substances on the team plane during her travels with Eric Kay. She also mentioned that after her husband was hospitalized for an overdose, she learned that the pills were for Skaggs and then reported it to the team’s traveling secretary.

Then three months later, Skaggs was found dead in a Texas hotel room. 

Camela said, “I am sitting in a courtroom for two days in front of a mother who lost her son and a widow. The Angels failed Eric.”

The Skaggs family is contending that the Angels are responsible for allowing Kay to continue working despite the fact that they knew about his activities. The organization, however, maintains that any substance abuse by Kay and Skaggs occurred privately and is out of the team’s oversight. For now, Camela Kay’s testimony is crucial to the case.

During the testimony, Camela also described the years of substance struggles and also about an intervention in 2017. This was when she said two Angels officials found items in their home. Then, in 2019, Kay’s condition had worsened, and she recalled him being found shirtless and dancing in his office before being hospitalized for an overdose.

It remains to be seen if the Skaggs family gets what they want out of this.