Latest / Foul Territory / Inside Sam Blum’s viral Angels AC question, Skaggs wrongful death lawsuit, Kurt Suzuki’s 1-year deal

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Inside Sam Blum’s viral Angels AC question, Skaggs wrongful death lawsuit, Kurt Suzuki’s 1-year deal · Foul Territory

0:02
Speaker 1: Artist, working man in baseball Right now, Sam Blum joins us,
0:05
Speaker 1: writing for The Athletic, covering the Angels among other topics. Sam,
0:09
Speaker 1: great to see you, and we'll get to the crazy
0:12
Speaker 1: court case that's been going on in your awesome coverage
0:15
Speaker 1: of it. Let's just start nice and simple. Kurt Suzuki
0:19
Speaker 1: one year contract. First thoughts.
0:23
Speaker 2: I mean, my first thought is it doesn't really matter
0:25
Speaker 2: who the manager is if you're going to give someone
0:27
Speaker 2: a one year deal. And it makes me wonder to
0:30
Speaker 2: some extent if that's what they were offering Albert Pooholes
0:32
Speaker 2: and Tory Hunter and why those you know, those pursuits
0:35
Speaker 2: didn't pan out. Again, I just don't know how relevant
0:38
Speaker 2: it is that who their manager is, if it's going
0:40
Speaker 2: to be a one year deal. I think it's embarrassing.
0:41
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, this is you're putting a guy
0:43
Speaker 2: who's never managed before, which is already a really tough
0:46
Speaker 2: spot to be in an even tougher spot by giving
0:49
Speaker 2: him basically a well, we just won seventy two games
0:52
Speaker 2: and now you've got to go figure it out on
0:54
Speaker 2: a one year deals. We're not we don't really believe
0:56
Speaker 2: in you, we don't really see you as a long
0:58
Speaker 2: term guy. But you know, here, here's a here's a
1:01
Speaker 2: you know, a flyer to see if you can pull
1:03
Speaker 2: off a miracle. If not, then you know, we'll just
1:05
Speaker 2: do this again next year with somebody else. And so
1:08
Speaker 2: my initial takeaway is it's pretty clear that this is
1:10
Speaker 2: a lockout, you know, anxiety or driven or whatever it is,
1:14
Speaker 2: because I don't think Already wants to be paying a
1:15
Speaker 2: manager when that lockout begins, which seems pretty inevitable at
1:20
Speaker 2: the beginning of December of next year. So that that's
1:22
Speaker 2: kind of the way I look at it. And I
1:24
Speaker 2: also look at it as this is Perry's last shot too.
1:26
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, he's on a one year deal.
1:28
Speaker 2: I think that's the only positive in this is that
1:30
Speaker 2: if you were to hire an Albert pool Holes on
1:32
Speaker 2: a four or five year contract and you have a
1:34
Speaker 2: guy like Perry on a as a lame duck GM,
1:36
Speaker 2: I mean you're basically cutting him out of the whole process.
1:39
Speaker 2: You're you're basically just making Albert the GM and giving
1:42
Speaker 2: him the keys to the castle and the direct line
1:44
Speaker 2: to Already. So everything with this organization is always very dysfunctional.
1:48
Speaker 2: This is no different. But yeah, the one year deal
1:51
Speaker 2: is just you're just punting the season before it begins.
1:53
Speaker 2: It's as far as I'm aware. I mean, listen, they could,
1:55
Speaker 2: they could pull off a miracle. I'm always waiting for
1:57
Speaker 2: someone to come and clip one of my comments on
2:00
Speaker 2: the show when they actually pull it off and are good.
2:02
Speaker 2: But uh, you know, I just I don't believe in it, don't.
2:04
Speaker 2: I don't think it's good process and I don't think
2:06
Speaker 2: it's gonna, you know, lead to good results. And you know,
2:08
Speaker 2: especially someone like Curtis, who's really young, who with most
2:10
Speaker 2: of the guys on this team, or a lot of
2:11
Speaker 2: the guys on this team were teammates with him on
2:13
Speaker 2: the Angels or elsewhere. It's just a weird dynamic to
2:17
Speaker 2: step into on a one year deal.
2:19
Speaker 3: Sam, you can write into the contract, by the way,
2:21
Speaker 3: you don't get paid during a lockout for coaches, And
2:23
Speaker 3: there are teams that paid their people and teams that didn't.
2:25
Speaker 3: So I don't know that I necessarily agree with that.
2:28
Speaker 3: My bigger question is is Suzuki just wanted to be
2:31
Speaker 3: a big league manager that badly? Because I can't believe
2:34
Speaker 3: that he went into this as a former player, and
2:36
Speaker 3: I know he's He had the quote, I was on
2:38
Speaker 3: one year deals my whole career, but gosh, like he
2:41
Speaker 3: knows going into this, Perry's on a one year deal.
2:44
Speaker 3: I'm gonna take a one year deal because if something
2:47
Speaker 3: happens with Perry, then I'm kind of his guy and
2:49
Speaker 3: I'm gone too, Like, I don't know, it just seems
2:51
Speaker 3: the whole thing is just crazy that somebody would take
2:53
Speaker 3: a one year deal to be a manager.
2:54
Speaker 4: I guess managing is that much fun, I guess.
2:57
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, there's only thirty of these jobs,
2:59
Speaker 2: so it's like that I think, is that is kind
3:01
Speaker 2: of what the Angels rely on, right, that they are
3:02
Speaker 2: one of thirty still, and so that is always going
3:04
Speaker 2: to be lucrative and interesting to people. You know, I'm
3:06
Speaker 2: sure Kurt is probably thinking I want to be a
3:08
Speaker 2: big lead manager someday. So if that's this is the
3:10
Speaker 2: way it, you know, and I don't know if he
3:12
Speaker 2: if he thinks that that's going to be long term
3:14
Speaker 2: with the with the Angels, or if he thinks that's
3:17
Speaker 2: going to you know, this maybe leads to and you
3:19
Speaker 2: know a lot of people that work from the Angels
3:21
Speaker 2: end up going and having a lot of success elsewhere,
3:23
Speaker 2: and so that might be kind of what he's thinking.
3:25
Speaker 2: You know, you get your foot in the door, you
3:26
Speaker 2: become you know, someone that people can at least evaluate
3:29
Speaker 2: in the role, and maybe you end up performing well
3:32
Speaker 2: as a manager elsewhere, you know, because it's these these chances,
3:36
Speaker 2: you know, if you if you don't take them when
3:37
Speaker 2: they come, that you might never get them. So and
3:39
Speaker 2: I'm if I had to guess that that's kind of
3:41
Speaker 2: the that's was the incentive to do this and probably
3:44
Speaker 2: why they weren't able to land, you know, one of
3:46
Speaker 2: those bigger names that they were certainly going after earlier
3:49
Speaker 2: on in the process. So yeah, in terms of in
3:52
Speaker 2: terms of the lockout, I think there's a I think
3:54
Speaker 2: that and I don't know if it's Perry related. It's
3:56
Speaker 2: you know, it's not the kind of thing already's going
3:57
Speaker 2: to come out and talk about. But the timing of
4:01
Speaker 2: it just I don't know exactly. I mean, again, it's
4:04
Speaker 2: hard to pinpoint exactly why they decided to go on
4:07
Speaker 2: to one year deal or why it was so important
4:09
Speaker 2: for the Angels. But this does not happen. I mean,
4:11
Speaker 2: this isn't something that like the Angels are one of
4:13
Speaker 2: ten teams or you know, there are twenty other examples
4:15
Speaker 2: of this. I think the most recent example, and really
4:18
Speaker 2: the only other one that I know of, is Dusty
4:20
Speaker 2: Baker signing a one year deal with an option twenty
4:23
Speaker 2: twenty in a much different scenario when he was taking over,
4:26
Speaker 2: you know, during that scandal, when he was also seventy
4:29
Speaker 2: years old at the time and ended up I think
4:31
Speaker 2: getting the option picked up almost immediately anyway, so it
4:34
Speaker 2: didn't really matter. I don't think that will be the
4:36
Speaker 2: case here unless the angel start out red hot, Sam.
4:40
Speaker 4: Easiest question I'll ever ask you. Do you have air
4:43
Speaker 4: conditioning where you are?
4:46
Speaker 2: Yeah? And it's on way too often.
4:48
Speaker 4: I will say, Okay, that sounds like a better answer
4:52
Speaker 4: than you got from perrimin Asia. And can you explain
4:56
Speaker 4: what you learn from the not cryptic answers, but the
5:01
Speaker 4: side stepping answers about the amenities and everything that kind
5:06
Speaker 4: of happened surrounding that back and forth that you had
5:10
Speaker 4: with Perry, which you kindly blessed us all.
5:12
Speaker 2: With thank you. Yeah, I mean, listen, that's not a
5:15
Speaker 2: new type of interaction with Perry. That is kind of
5:17
Speaker 2: how we response to questions. He doesn't really want to answer,
5:19
Speaker 2: which is typically a little bit indignant, and you know,
5:22
Speaker 2: why are you asking? He always says that's a question
5:24
Speaker 2: for somebody else, which I don't agree with. I know
5:26
Speaker 2: who I'm asking the question to, and I don't understand
5:28
Speaker 2: why he always tries to tell me it's for somebody else,
5:31
Speaker 2: but you know, it's it's that's his prerogative, he doesn't.
5:34
Speaker 2: I think this is reflect The reason I put it
5:35
Speaker 2: out there is I think it's reflective of issues with
5:37
Speaker 2: the Angels and the way that they go about it,
5:39
Speaker 2: the way Perry goes about it in particular, which is
5:41
Speaker 2: to you know, you're not looking inward if you're not
5:44
Speaker 2: willing to listen to your player who's saying that there's
5:46
Speaker 2: an issue here, and you're just saying the air conditioning
5:48
Speaker 2: is great, very cold, rubbing your arms and you know,
5:50
Speaker 2: smiling about it. It's just, to me, is not the
5:52
Speaker 2: right response to something like that. And I think you
5:54
Speaker 2: see the response to that interaction, the way people looked
5:57
Speaker 2: at it. I think fans agree with me on that,
5:59
Speaker 2: which is this is this is not just about air
6:01
Speaker 2: conditioning in your weight room. This is about amenities, which
6:05
Speaker 2: you know, Kevin Pillar on your program, obviously brought up
6:08
Speaker 2: and was I think was helpful in being able to
6:11
Speaker 2: kind of press Perry because it wasn't just one player.
6:13
Speaker 2: It was, you know, a long time veteran of the
6:16
Speaker 2: of the game who's played for many teams, much like
6:18
Speaker 2: Kakuchi it has as well. So yeah, to me, it's
6:21
Speaker 2: just if you're not willing to look inward at the
6:24
Speaker 2: problems and ask yourself why why as have I as
6:27
Speaker 2: a GM gone seventy seven and eighty five, seventy three
6:30
Speaker 2: and eighty nine, seventy three and eighty nine again, sixty
6:32
Speaker 2: three and ninety nine and then seventy two and ninety
6:34
Speaker 2: in my five years, is a GM you're not willing
6:37
Speaker 2: to ask those questions, which it doesn't always feel like
6:39
Speaker 2: they are willing to ask those questions, then I think
6:41
Speaker 2: you're going to go and look at the same record
6:42
Speaker 2: again next year, in the year after that, and as
6:44
Speaker 2: long as you're in that job. So uh yeah, I
6:47
Speaker 2: just I think it was reflective of larger issues. And
6:50
Speaker 2: you know, we saw that they obviously posted a job
6:52
Speaker 2: for an HVAC technician on that day. I don't know
6:54
Speaker 2: if somebody meant to me that they were reposting it
6:56
Speaker 2: that day, which is interesting to me, but I don't
6:58
Speaker 2: I don't know exactly the I have no real insider
7:01
Speaker 2: information is to if that interaction led to them posting
7:04
Speaker 2: that job. But uh, you know, you can make the
7:06
Speaker 2: assumption if you want.
7:08
Speaker 3: Hey, listen, First of all, the h fact thing was
7:10
Speaker 3: awesome that it just it just happened, happened to coincide
7:14
Speaker 3: with that. And then the other thing was Perry was
7:16
Speaker 3: a clubhouse guy. He was a clubhouse guy, so he
7:19
Speaker 3: should know that the players need air conditioning. He was
7:21
Speaker 3: down in the clubhouse grinding in Texas for years, right,
7:25
Speaker 3: so he should have an HVAC guy on speed dial.
7:27
Speaker 4: And if the players complain.
7:28
Speaker 3: As a former clubhouse guy, there shouldn't be a question
7:31
Speaker 3: about it. He should be like, yes, whatever you want,
7:33
Speaker 3: because most clubhouse guys don't tell players know because then
7:36
Speaker 3: they don't get a tip.
7:38
Speaker 4: Yeah.
7:38
Speaker 2: I mean, from all I understand, I think the Angels
7:40
Speaker 2: club's or this is not on them, right, like this
7:43
Speaker 2: is on the organization.
7:44
Speaker 4: I never said that.
7:45
Speaker 3: I said he was a former clubhouse guy. Oh well,
7:50
Speaker 3: I'm just saying, like I'm saying, Perry the clubhouse people
7:52
Speaker 3: and I've always been awesome, But what I'm saying is
7:55
Speaker 3: Perry is a former clubhouse guy. When the player complains
7:57
Speaker 3: about something, they usually say, yes, how do I fix
8:00
Speaker 3: this or how do I get this done?
8:01
Speaker 4: Whatever it is?
8:02
Speaker 1: But he asked I saw, yeah, yeah, you can do it.
8:04
Speaker 4: Yeah.
8:05
Speaker 3: No, I'm not complaining about the Angels clubhouse people at all.
8:07
Speaker 3: I'm just saying Perry should know, like, yes, you say, Kakuchi,
8:10
Speaker 3: if you want air conditioning tomorrow, it'll be forty two
8:12
Speaker 3: degrees when you walk in, you have to wear a
8:13
Speaker 3: damn park.
8:15
Speaker 2: And the thing is, I mean, listen, like the what
8:17
Speaker 2: I think is kind of lost in this is in
8:19
Speaker 2: the last. This was the last game of the Sea,
8:20
Speaker 2: last game of the season four Kakuchi would he exited
8:22
Speaker 2: after five I believe, scoreless innings and in the middle
8:25
Speaker 2: of his outing because he had cramps, and he said
8:28
Speaker 2: that this was why he had to leave. And you
8:30
Speaker 2: look at the you know, how much money does any
8:32
Speaker 2: team pay per win? Right, like millions of dollars like that.
8:35
Speaker 2: The I think I believe the just went on to
8:36
Speaker 2: lose that game and it, you know, irrelevant. Ultimately, I
8:40
Speaker 2: think it was against the Royals and both teams were
8:42
Speaker 2: out of him. Last week of the season. But you're
8:44
Speaker 2: paying millions of dollars per win? How much is the
8:47
Speaker 2: extra five hundred to fix you air conditioning, which clearly
8:49
Speaker 2: looked like it may have been the difference between a
8:50
Speaker 2: win and a loss that night. So you know, I
8:53
Speaker 2: don't I have to go check and make sure that
8:55
Speaker 2: they lost. I'm not I believe. I know they lost
8:56
Speaker 2: two out of three that series. But you know, it's
8:59
Speaker 2: just to me, like, this is this is why you
9:01
Speaker 2: lose games. It's not always how much you're spending. In
9:02
Speaker 2: free agency, people always wonder, I mean, I already's got
9:04
Speaker 2: a pretty decent payroll at least. He used to why
9:08
Speaker 2: do they keep losing? And it's because they don't do
9:10
Speaker 2: these things right, Like it's because they won't get air
9:12
Speaker 2: conditioning for the players, it's because it's not a good environment.
9:14
Speaker 2: I mean, I just I struggle to see how players
9:18
Speaker 2: really like being there. I know that was part of
9:20
Speaker 2: the interaction I had with Perry, was like, well he
9:22
Speaker 2: likes the environment here, it's not really the question. But
9:24
Speaker 2: I also do think it's relevant here. I mean, I
9:26
Speaker 2: don't you know if you're a free agent reading that interaction,
9:30
Speaker 2: if you're an agent with clients reading that interaction, I mean,
9:33
Speaker 2: who wants to go play for that? I wouldn't. I
9:36
Speaker 2: mean I certainly can't even play baseball. I just wouldn't
9:39
Speaker 2: be my first choice.
9:42
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9:49
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9:53
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9:55
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9:56
Speaker 1: Right, you got one that's worth something, Now send it
9:59
Speaker 1: in for grading. I mean, the list goes on and
10:02
Speaker 1: you want to sell it. Now, you got to put
10:03
Speaker 1: it up. Then you gotta ship it out. There's one
10:05
Speaker 1: solution for that, and it's called.
10:08
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10:10
Speaker 5: You get on your computer, you type in get the
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10:16
Speaker 5: money in, and type in exactly what kind of cards
10:18
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10:21
Speaker 5: I think that's what people miss nowadays, the experience, the
10:24
Speaker 5: excitement of getting a new card. You never know what
10:26
Speaker 5: you're gonna get, an autograph card, anything you could think of,
10:29
Speaker 5: really cool stuff.
10:30
Speaker 1: You can get twenty percent off your first slab pack
10:33
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10:36
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10:39
Speaker 1: digital slab pack. It's like butter baby.
10:43
Speaker 4: I thought we were moving in the right direction. They
10:44
Speaker 4: got rid of the tent in spring training for the
10:48
Speaker 4: weight room. Does does and I know this is an
10:52
Speaker 4: arty moreno thing, but does the organization and maybe it's
10:55
Speaker 4: already moreno completely? Do they not see what other organizations do?
11:00
Speaker 4: Were gonna always like, look, they're just only going to
11:03
Speaker 4: look at the Dodgers and say, oh, they spend all
11:05
Speaker 4: this money on this stuff. The Dodgers ten years ago
11:07
Speaker 4: when I played against them in twenty fifteen. In the
11:10
Speaker 4: minor leagues, we're clearing out minor league clubhouses, bringing in
11:14
Speaker 4: all their own organic food, all their own fruits and
11:17
Speaker 4: vegetables for the players, and taking care of their food.
11:20
Speaker 4: That was ten years ago that they were starting to
11:22
Speaker 4: build their minor league system. If the Angels aren't doing that,
11:26
Speaker 4: they're not just ten years behind. They're more than that
11:29
Speaker 4: because other the best organizations are already doing that. Are
11:32
Speaker 4: they not moving in the right direction or are their
11:35
Speaker 4: little things because it can't all happen in one year.
11:38
Speaker 4: And I thought those little things started with the new
11:40
Speaker 4: weight room in spring training.
11:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, they added the pitching and hitting lab out there,
11:44
Speaker 2: and you know, the players raved about that, said it was,
11:46
Speaker 2: you know, better than they had other organizations that they
11:48
Speaker 2: played for. But I think that when you look at
11:50
Speaker 2: a big picture the way that they operate, it's that's
11:54
Speaker 2: one thing, and they continuously kind of point back to
11:55
Speaker 2: that as if like that's the only thing that they needed,
11:57
Speaker 2: and you know, it's I don't you know, I don't
12:01
Speaker 2: think that they're really moving in the right direction. And
12:03
Speaker 2: I think it's the opposite. I mean, that's that's a
12:05
Speaker 2: good example of something they've done correctly, But you know,
12:08
Speaker 2: I think the amenities actually it at Angel Stadium continue
12:11
Speaker 2: to lag and it goes beyond amenities. I think I
12:15
Speaker 2: think it's it's you look at the one your contract,
12:18
Speaker 2: You look at who you're going to bring in as
12:19
Speaker 2: a coaching staff. I mean, who is you know, do
12:22
Speaker 2: you are you gonna have cohesiveness between the player development
12:25
Speaker 2: side of the Major League which was a huge issue
12:27
Speaker 2: this year. I just to me, like, these these are
12:29
Speaker 2: the things that they're continuing to lag behind. And you know,
12:33
Speaker 2: they did one very very positive thing with what they
12:36
Speaker 2: did in spring training, but I don't think that's solved
12:38
Speaker 2: all the issues here and certainly not when it comes
12:41
Speaker 2: to their amenities at Angel Stadium, which continue to not
12:43
Speaker 2: be as good. And yeah, I mean on the food front,
12:48
Speaker 2: on the minor league front. Like you know, it's hard
12:50
Speaker 2: for me to say Gevin investigated all these things fully,
12:52
Speaker 2: but you know when I when I did more so
12:54
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, the Angels were
12:56
Speaker 2: like thirtieth out of thirty in terms of how they
12:58
Speaker 2: treated minor league players. And I just I don't think
13:01
Speaker 2: they're knowing what I know about the Angels. It's just
13:03
Speaker 2: it does not make me think that they're whole scale
13:07
Speaker 2: moving everything in the right direction. I think that they
13:09
Speaker 2: did something that was good, but it's not necessarily reflective
13:12
Speaker 2: of how the entire operation is running. I mean, I
13:15
Speaker 2: think when I don't want to compare the Angels to
13:17
Speaker 2: like the Rockies and the White Sox at least where
13:19
Speaker 2: they are right now. But you know, I think those
13:21
Speaker 2: those weren't one off seasons, right like that that was
13:24
Speaker 2: that was a slow deterioration to becoming the worst teams
13:27
Speaker 2: ever to play the game. I don't know if that's
13:29
Speaker 2: where the Angels are going, but you see the way
13:30
Speaker 2: that they're spending a free agency. You see their choices
13:32
Speaker 2: they're making other coaching staff. You see some of the
13:34
Speaker 2: complaints that they're getting about amenities, like this is a
13:37
Speaker 2: slow decline. I think that you know, the fact that
13:40
Speaker 2: they lost ninety nine games two years ago is you know,
13:42
Speaker 2: I think a red It should be a huge red
13:43
Speaker 2: flag to people that this is, you know, this is
13:46
Speaker 2: just not a good situation right now with the team.
13:49
Speaker 2: Maybe I'll be wrong, maybe maybe you know, jo Adell
13:51
Speaker 2: zach Neetto, some of these younger pitchers that they have,
13:54
Speaker 2: you know, end up really playing well. But again, those
13:57
Speaker 2: guys had really good years this year and they still
13:59
Speaker 2: were eighteen games of five hundred. It's just not enough
14:01
Speaker 2: depth there, and there's just not a good enough roster
14:03
Speaker 2: and there's not a good enough system in place to
14:05
Speaker 2: really build a good team. And I don't think there's
14:06
Speaker 2: the interest in doing it, honestly. I mean, I just
14:10
Speaker 2: I see what they you know, the Kikuchi is the
14:12
Speaker 2: most expensive for aging contract they've signed in the Perrimanazian era.
14:15
Speaker 2: And I just don't really see the priority number one
14:19
Speaker 2: being winning right now. I mean, if it was, I
14:21
Speaker 2: don't know how you square the one year deal for
14:23
Speaker 2: your manager who's already being put in a tough position
14:26
Speaker 2: as a first year manager.
14:26
Speaker 3: It's just I.
14:27
Speaker 2: Don't I don't see it. And I don't know if
14:29
Speaker 2: the Angels are going to go in the direction of
14:31
Speaker 2: the White Sox and the Rockies and lose one hundred
14:33
Speaker 2: and twenty games. But I think if you were to
14:35
Speaker 2: look across baseball and ask yourself which team is most
14:37
Speaker 2: likely to be the next on that list, I don't
14:39
Speaker 2: know how it's not the Angels, just because of all
14:41
Speaker 2: the decisions that are currently currently being made.
14:44
Speaker 1: One year manager contract is despicable. The entire sports should
14:49
Speaker 1: be embarrassed. And we are so next up and last
14:52
Speaker 1: topic here, and I know there's a lot to it.
14:54
Speaker 1: You are doing excellent work covering the court case involving
14:59
Speaker 1: the late Tyler Skaggs and the liability that the organization
15:05
Speaker 1: has for his death, and that is what is being
15:08
Speaker 1: figured out in court right now. It sounds like it's
15:10
Speaker 1: going to take a long time appeals probably after this.
15:13
Speaker 1: But can you get us caught up on what the
15:16
Speaker 1: current status is like? What are the real standouts that
15:19
Speaker 1: people should know if they know nothing about it? You know,
15:22
Speaker 1: and even people like Mike Trout having to show up
15:25
Speaker 1: to court for this.
15:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, it's really interesting court case. I mean, essentially,
15:30
Speaker 2: they're trying to litigate, you know, if the Angels are
15:33
Speaker 2: responsible for Tyler Skaggs's death, and they're doing that the
15:36
Speaker 2: way the Skags are they're the ones currently presenting their case.
15:38
Speaker 2: They're trying to do that by making a lot of
15:40
Speaker 2: example showing a lot of examples of Eric Kay being
15:44
Speaker 2: high at work allegedly and the Angels employees knowing about
15:47
Speaker 2: that he was high at work. I think, and there's
15:49
Speaker 2: a lot of evidence that the Angels employees knew about this.
15:51
Speaker 2: I mean, they're showing a lot of text messages, you know,
15:54
Speaker 2: things that were said in deposition testimony. I think what's
15:57
Speaker 2: interesting is a lot of the Angels represented witnesses who
15:59
Speaker 2: are coming in are you know, coming in and having
16:02
Speaker 2: to explain why they weren't able to produce text messages
16:05
Speaker 2: that you know, are appearing on non Angels represented witnesses phones,
16:10
Speaker 2: right Like, they deleted some text messages. They're changing some
16:12
Speaker 2: of their deposition testimony. You know, I try to stay
16:16
Speaker 2: away from analyzing what's happening too much, is because it
16:19
Speaker 2: is a It's not like talking about what you see
16:21
Speaker 2: on the fields necessarily because it's it's a court case,
16:24
Speaker 2: and the Angels are going to have their chance to
16:26
Speaker 2: put their own case on after the Skag side is done,
16:29
Speaker 2: and the Angels are are going to try and you know,
16:33
Speaker 2: basically make Tyler Skaggs had to be a drug addict
16:37
Speaker 2: who had lots of sources of drugs, who you know,
16:41
Speaker 2: was the driver of this and it was just ultimately
16:42
Speaker 2: responsible for his own death. And I think, you know,
16:44
Speaker 2: a reason when people can look at this in a
16:46
Speaker 2: lot of different ways. I don't think this is a
16:48
Speaker 2: clear cut thing. I think it's and that's why it's
16:49
Speaker 2: a long trial. There's a lot of nuance to it.
16:53
Speaker 2: You know, yesterday one of the interesting things that came
16:55
Speaker 2: up was, you know, how much would Skaggs's potential future
16:58
Speaker 2: value be. They asked about that. They asked Trad if
17:01
Speaker 2: he would have been an All Star in twenty nineteen.
17:03
Speaker 2: Trad says he would have been in the mix. And
17:04
Speaker 2: then you know, they had an Angel PR person up
17:06
Speaker 2: there yesterday who was kind of going through why you know,
17:10
Speaker 2: the Angels lawyers were asking why he wouldn't have been
17:12
Speaker 2: an All star why he wasn't that good. So it's
17:15
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of interesting elements to it.
17:17
Speaker 2: But I think if you really try to boil it
17:18
Speaker 2: down to what are both sides arguing, The skagside is
17:22
Speaker 2: trying to portray Eric Kay is the driver of this,
17:25
Speaker 2: that the Angels were aware of his drug use, that
17:27
Speaker 2: he was using drugs, and this guy and the Angels
17:29
Speaker 2: are trying to portray Tyler Skaggs is as responsible for
17:32
Speaker 2: his own death, and that Eric kay drug use was
17:36
Speaker 2: not something that everyone was aware of and was more
17:39
Speaker 2: in the background and would have been not visible to
17:42
Speaker 2: team employees, which I think they're having a hard time arguing,
17:44
Speaker 2: quite frankly, given some of the evidence that we're seeing.
17:46
Speaker 2: But it's a you know, like I said, it's a living,
17:49
Speaker 2: breathing kind of case, and things evolve, things change, and
17:51
Speaker 2: you know, we'll can see how it develops over the
17:53
Speaker 2: next couple of months, which I think this you know,
17:55
Speaker 2: they said the outermost date for it to end is
17:57
Speaker 2: December twelfth, and I'm thinking it might be later than that.
17:59
Speaker 2: Just giveing the pay is really is quite slow. But
18:02
Speaker 2: they're off today.
18:03
Speaker 1: So and that's why we got you on which we
18:05
Speaker 1: were happy to do. We were waiting to talk to
18:07
Speaker 1: you about it better than us. You're inside court covering
18:10
Speaker 1: this great work, Sam, And for anyone that wants more info,
18:13
Speaker 1: there's a ton Just google Sam Blum the Athletic.
18:17
Speaker 3: It's a bad look, though. It's just a bad it's
18:19
Speaker 3: a bad look. It's a bad look of course for
18:21
Speaker 3: the organization. I mean, he's going to carry for a
18:24
Speaker 3: long this has been going on for a long know,
18:25
Speaker 3: it's just going to get a shame. It's a shame.
18:27
Speaker 4: It is.
18:28
Speaker 3: First of all, obviously the loss of life is a shame.
18:30
Speaker 3: Start with that, Yeah, but then the whole thing after me. Now,
18:33
Speaker 3: family's got to go through it again. And I mean,
18:35
Speaker 3: this is just this is this is tough, man. This
18:37
Speaker 3: is every time I see this stuff, I'm just like, gosh.
18:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wouldn't want to be going through this.
18:43
Speaker 3: Mike Trout's up there, you know, Mike Trout's up there
18:45
Speaker 3: on the stand testifying about a former teammate kind of
18:49
Speaker 3: against his team.
18:50
Speaker 1: They're asking him if he's good or not, like if
18:52
Speaker 1: he yeah, like.
18:54
Speaker 3: You have made the All Star team?
18:56
Speaker 2: Like what Mike Trout is the only Mike Trod has
19:00
Speaker 2: a shrine up of Tyler Skaggs next to his locker,
19:02
Speaker 2: and it's really the only memorial of Tyler Skaggs at
19:04
Speaker 2: the ballpark which did come up at in the trial
19:08
Speaker 2: as well from one of the other PR people. But
19:09
Speaker 2: you know, I think that is something I've taken away
19:11
Speaker 2: from this, you know, outside of everything is you know,
19:13
Speaker 2: you have a lot of these these regular people who
19:15
Speaker 2: are having to come and testify and who are probably
19:17
Speaker 2: under a lot of pressure to say it's certain things,
19:19
Speaker 2: and it's it's just really tough. You know, There's been
19:21
Speaker 2: a lot of tears shed in that court room in
19:22
Speaker 2: the last you know, three weeks, by witnesses, by the family.
19:26
Speaker 2: You feel for them a lot. I feel for Mike
19:27
Speaker 2: Trout because it's, like you said, it's it's really not
19:29
Speaker 2: an easy thing to uh, to be asked to do that.
19:32
Speaker 2: And uh, you know, I don't want to put the
19:35
Speaker 2: an I don't want to criticize the Angels on this
19:37
Speaker 2: front because they're fighting. They're fighting a lawsuit has brought
19:39
Speaker 2: against them, and I understand they're that that that right.
19:41
Speaker 2: So but yeah, it's a it's a tough look and
19:43
Speaker 2: I think, you know, I don't know what the what
19:45
Speaker 2: the fallout will be once this is all said and done,
19:47
Speaker 2: I think it could be significant.
19:48
Speaker 1: Of course, we'll have you back as more things happen
19:51
Speaker 1: and come out of that case, Sam, thanks for stopping by.
19:54
Speaker 1: Good to see you. Thanks for doing the work there.
19:56
Speaker 1: I know it's not easy.
19:58
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. You guys