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 ...