SANTA ANA, Calif. — A former Los Angeles Angels official testified Wednesday that a team employee convicted of providing drugs that led to the death of one of the team’s star pitchers was good at his job but had some behavioral issues and had been taking prescription medication to deal with depression and bipolar disorder.
Tim Mead was the first witness to testify in the long-awaited civil trial in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of the late pitcher Tyler Skaggs. Mead left the Angels, where he oversaw the team’s communications, a few weeks before the 2019 overdose death to become president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The family contends the team should be held responsible for Skaggs’ death after its communication director, Eric Kay, was convicted of providing the fentanyl-tainted pill that led to Skaggs’ fatal overdose on a team trip to Texas in 2019.
Mead, who was Kay’s boss, told the court in Santa Ana on Thursday that he knew Kay took medication and sometimes had off days because of his mental health issues. Mead said Kay was a good employee 95% of the time but occasionally engaged in questionable conduct such as yelling at an intern, having an affair with another and taking money from players for stunts like getting hit by a fast-moving pitch.
“He was a good worker, he was a good performer. I saw the bounce back if there was to be what I would call an off day,” said Mead, who now works as an adjunct professor. “I took him at his word for knowing his condition and what he was managing.”
Mead said he believed Kay was mismanaging his medication, and said Kay told him sometimes he didn’t take it, and never heard anything about him taking illegal drugs. When a lawyer for the plaintiff’s family asked why Mead didn’t report Kay’s issues to the team, Mead said Kay was participating in an employee assistance program that he considered “part of the organization.”
In April 2019, Mead said concerns about Kay rose to a new level when he was behaving unusually at work then wound up hospitalized later that night. Mead said he went to see Kay the next day.
“He was a mess. His eyes were half rolled up his head,” Mead said. “There was obviously something very very wrong.”
Skaggs’ wife, Carli, and parents filed a wrongful-death lawsuit contending the team failed to follow its drug policies and allowed an addicted and drug-dealing employee, Kay, to have access to its players.
The Angels argue that Skaggs and Kay were involved in drugs on their own time and the team could not have prevented what Skaggs did in the privacy of his hotel room the night he died. The team has also said its officials were not aware Skaggs was taking drugs or they would have tried to help him.
The trial comes more than six years after 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 says Skaggs choked to death on his vomit and that a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.
Kay was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with an 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.
Skaggs’ family is seeking $118 million in lost earnings as well as compensation for their pain and suffering and punitive damages against the team.
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 his 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.
The trial is expected to take weeks and could include testimony from players including Angels outfielder Mike Trout and the team’s former pitcher, Wade Miley, who currently plays for the Cincinnati Reds.