Tyler Skaggs passes away

Cesar Crespo

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Dec 22, 2002
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Damn. Seems baseball has lost a lot of young, promising players over the last few years.

RIP.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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How does a 27 year old just pass away? Wtf???
Congenital heart conditions often go undetected and undiagnosed right up until the moment they kill you, and it can happen at any age. Not that there's anything to indicate that's the case with Skaggs (yet), but it wouldn't shock me if that is what happened here. At least, I'm hoping this is more a Darryl Kile situation than a Tommy Hanson situation.

A tragedy no matter what the reason, though.
 

brandonchristensen

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Feb 4, 2012
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Wow. After Adenhart, their franchise deserves a break.

Let’s hope there’s no fucking drawings of this one mocking him.
 

AbbyNoho

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Jan 20, 2006
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Congenital heart conditions often go undetected and undiagnosed right up until the moment they kill you, and it can happen at any age. Not that there's anything to indicate that's the case with Skaggs (yet), but it wouldn't shock me if that is what happened here. At least, I'm hoping this is more a Darryl Kile situation than a Tommy Hanson situation.

A tragedy no matter what the reason, though.
One of my best friend's brothers died at age 20 from that. He was a collegiate rower and had never known he had a heart problem until he suddenly passed away during a workout. It's very scary.
 

Murderer's Crow

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Jul 15, 2005
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This really sucks. I can't even think of his name without singing the "I'm gonnna Tyler Skaagggs" theme from the CBS Sports Podcast. Heart goes out to all involved but sheesh. Go hug your loved ones.
 

E5 Yaz

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First Nick Adenhart, now Tyler Skaggs. Just the worst deja vu for that organization.
Not exactly first. When Adenhart died, they cited the "Angels curse"


Pitcher Nick Adenhart, 22, car accident, 2009
Outfielder Lyman Bostock, 27, shot to death, 1978
Shortstop Mike Miley, 23, car accident, 1977
Infielder Chico Ruiz, 33, car accident, 1972
Pitcher Tyler Skaggs, 27, unknown, 2019
Pitcher Dick Wantz, 25, brain tumor, 1965
 

canderson

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Jul 16, 2005
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This is devastating. MLBN reported police said it wasn’t suicide, and that statement says no foul play.

The Angels have lost two great young stars. Ugh.
 

Mugsy's Jock

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Not exactly first. When Adenhart died, they cited the "Angels curse"


Pitcher Nick Adenhart, 22, car accident, 2009
Outfielder Lyman Bostock, 27, shot to death, 1978
Shortstop Mike Miley, 23, car accident, 1977
Infielder Chico Ruiz, 33, car accident, 1972
Pitcher Tyler Skaggs, 27, unknown, 2019
Pitcher Dick Wantz, 25, brain tumor, 1965
And then there’s the sad unique case of Donnie Moore, 35, self-inflicted, 1989
 

Dollar

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May 5, 2006
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This is so terrible. RIP.

I can't imagine going through something like this as a teammate, but sadly enough this is the third time in Albert Pujols' career that he has lost a teammate during the season (Darryl Kile 2002, Josh Hancock 2007, Skaggs).
 

jon abbey

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Giancarlo Stanton, who was very tight with the late Jose Fernandez, with IMO a very moving Instagram post:

"RIP Bro, My heart goes out to your family My message to the @angels while having no time for yourself to grieve is to hug each other, laugh, cry, lift the ones taking it extra hard up.
You’re going to wonder why all of this is happening , is it real, why are u suiting up to play a game that seems irrelevant.
Some Anger will ensue while u have to grieve in a fish bowl.. A lot will go through your mind. So stay together through that.
The first days back to schedule are the weirdest feeling, from the energy to the questions to having to walk by his locker.
Try to Focus & understand how important your strength is for his family, all of your supporters & anyone looking for the power to overcome something. They’re looking @ you for guidance. So you all really need each other right now.
Stay strong fellas I’m thinking about you!"

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzZbYu0pmQj/?utm_source=ig_embed
 

Harry Hooper

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A terrible story in every dimension, but very kind and thoughtful stuff from Giancarlo.
 

DanoooME

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And Luis Valbuena, who's last team was the Angels before he was released in August and shot to death a few months later.
 

DeadlySplitter

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https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2019-08-30/tyler-skaggs-autopsy-report-fentanyl-oxycodone-alcohol-angels-rusty-hardin
The headline if you can't see embed:
Tyler Skaggs’ autopsy: Fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol led to death by choking on vomit

the family is pursuing a potential angle of an Angels employee supplying these narcotics:
We were shocked to learn that it may involve an employee of the Los Angeles Angels. We will not rest until we learn the truth about how Tyler came into possession of these narcotics, including who supplied them. To that end, we have hired attorney Rusty Hardin to assist us.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid similar to morphine but 50 to 100 times more potent on a weight-by-weight basis. When taken in uncontrolled concentrations by unsuspecting users, or by users whose opioid tolerance has not been heightened by long-term use, the drug is more likely even than prescription opioids to suppress respiration and cause death.
Tests showed 38 nanograms per milliliter of the prescription-strength pain killer oxycodone, the use of which is prohibited by Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug and Prevention Program, and a blood-alcohol level of 0.122%.
 
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RedOctober3829

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Jul 19, 2005
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The only angle involving the Angels that I can see here is the Angels athletic trainer unknowingly gave him pain pills that were laced. I can not believe that athletic trainers give fentanyl as a pain reliever. It's way, way too potent and obviously deadly.
 

sean1562

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Sep 17, 2011
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insane how easy we have made it to get opiates like those. Thousands of people thrown in jail for small time shit while big pharma companies pump these pills out making billions. Fentanyl is only gonna come from some black market source, and i imagine trainers could just prescribe painkillers?
 

Koji’s Slider

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insane how easy we have made it to get opiates like those. Thousands of people thrown in jail for small time shit while big pharma companies pump these pills out making billions. Fentanyl is only gonna come from some black market source, and i imagine trainers could just prescribe painkillers?
I lost someone I really love to opiate addiction, and can’t agree more. I can’t believe how easy it is to get. I had a staph infection about 18 months ago, and I was going to The Caribbean on vacation, I asked my doctor for an emergency prescription of Kerflex in case I got sick again, they told me no, and that’s for a simple antibiotic.
 

sean1562

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I have lost a few friends myself. it is very easy to overdose on that stuff especially when you are mixing it with alcohol. That BAC is like 6 pints in 2 hours, coupled with some pain meds(that he probably had a tolerance to) and even a little spike of fentanyl, is all it takes to kill someone.
 

johnmd20

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I have lost a few friends myself. it is very easy to overdose on that stuff especially when you are mixing it with alcohol. That BAC is like 6 pints in 2 hours, coupled with some pain meds(that he probably had a tolerance to) and even a little spike of fentanyl, is all it takes to kill someone.
Well, Skaggs died from choking on his vomit, so it wasn't the fentanyl that killed him in this instance. Indirectly, it probably knocked him out cold so he could choke to death. But, yes, fentanyl is a killer. Brutally bad story. As a former opiate addict, these stories always scare the heck out of me. I got lucky. Many don't.
 

fiskful of dollars

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Would a team doctor prescribe Fentanyl for pain?
No. Absolutely not. Fentanyl is almost exclusively used in a hospital setting on a monitored (telemetry) patient and dosed in MICROgrams. It is occasionally used as a transdermal (a controlled release patch) adjunct in chronic cancer pain management. Occasionally, it issued for other chronic pain conditions but that type of usage is pretty rare (and, in my opinion, reckless). The patches are typically reserved for palliative care/hospice etc. I have occasionally removed multiple patches from ODing patients. Fenatanyl abuse is a one-way ticket towards death. Narcan isn't terribly effective either. Nasty, nasty drug. The high isn't even very good, I'm told. The half life is very short so it's a quick acting agent which makes it useful in trauma resuscitations and (paradoxically) the elderly...hip fractures, etc. Less long term respiratory and vasoactive (BP) depression.
 

redsoxedmunds24

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Could this be a situation where this employee was helping him some kind of PEDs and that’s how he ended up unknowingly taking some drugs mixed with that stuff? Seems crazy to think they would knowingly giving him those type of drugs
 

jcd0805

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Prince took what he thought was a Vicodin but it was black market and laced with fentanyl, I imagine that’s what happened here-some team employee scored him some pain meds not knowing what exactly he got, just so sad :(
 

Lose Remerswaal

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Prince took what he thought was a Vicodin but it was black market and laced with fentanyl, I imagine that’s what happened here-some team employee scored him some pain meds not knowing what exactly he got, just so sad :(
I guess that's possible. Or perhaps he got it outside of the auspices of the team

Is that really the takeaway? Throw shit out there and when it sticks get vindicated?
I guess that's possible. Or perhaps they did some investigating and knew the facts
 

gedman211

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The fact that it was 3 different compounds found in his system probably means they were delivered in the same black market pill. The Mexican pill mills get chemical precursors from Chinese labs and package them together. don't matter to them what's inside, just so it gets you high.
 

NDame616

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Jul 31, 2006
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Why would a team physician give him black market meds for pain killers? Don't these guys have top of the line pharmaceuticals and prescription pad? If Skaggs was actually suffering from some type of pain, I can't imagine a team physician couldn't easily get him meds to be doled out at a pharmacy.

That isn't to say something shady didn't happen, but if Skaggs' arm/shoulder/something was hurting him I think finding legit pain killers shouldn't be a problem