LA Angels president testifies he wishes he'd known about drug use before pitcher's fatal overdose

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The president of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team testified Friday in a wrongful death lawsuit that the fatal overdose of pitcher Tyler Skaggs was tough for the club and he wished he had known sooner about drug use by the player and one of the team's employees.

John Carpino, president of the Angels since 2009, made the comments during the final moments of defense testimony in a long-running trial in California over whether the MLB team should be held responsible for Skaggs' death. Carpino told jurors that Skaggs and team communications director Eric Kay, who was convicted of providing Skaggs a fentanyl-laced pill that led to his 2019 death, were both addicts and distributed drugs too.

“Knowing what we know now, I wish we would have heard,” Carpino said.

Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday in the lawsuit filed by Skaggs' family contending the team knew or should have known Kay was addicted to drugs and dealing to players. Angels’ lawyers have argued team officials didn’t know Skaggs was taking drugs and any activity involving Skaggs and Kay happened on their own time and in the privacy of the player’s hotel room on a team trip to Texas.

The trial, which began in October, has included testimony from players including Angels outfielder Mike Trout, team employees, and Skaggs' widow, Carli, and parents.

It’s been six years since 27-year-old Skaggs was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report said the left-handed pitcher choked to death on his vomit and a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.

Kay was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and sentenced to 22 years in federal prison. His federal criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five MLB players who said they received oxycodone from Kay at various times from 2017 to 2019, the years he was accused of obtaining pills and giving them to Angels players.

During the civil trial, witnesses described Kay’s erratic behavior at the stadium and incidents leading to his attending drug rehabilitation before heading out on the trip to Texas. Kay’s now-ex-wife, Camela Kay told jurors the team failed her husband, who worked lengthy hours, and that during his 2019 hospitalization for a drug overdose, she heard he had pills intended for Skaggs.

Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly during that time. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After Skaggs’ death, the MLB reached a deal with the players association to start testing for opioids and to refer those who test positive to the treatment board.