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Outside The Confines: Eric Kay found guilty in connection to death of Tyler Skaggs

The Kay trial has been a big story this week

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Seattle Mariners v Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images

This week we saw plenty of buzz about the trial of Eric Kay, the former Angels employee who was implicated in the overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs back in 2019. After several days of testimony from other Angels players, Skaggs’ widow, and others connected to the case, a verdict was handed down on Friday.

After only an hour of deliberation, the jury returned with a guilty verdict, finding that Kay was responsible for providing the opioids that resulted in Skaggs’ death. The sentencing will take place at the end of June, but Kay will face a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.

In a statement, the Skaggs family shared their relief, “Tyler was the light of our family. He is gone, and nothing can ever bring him back. We are relieved that justice was served, although today is a painful reminder of the worst day in the life of our family.”

Some additional reading on the trial:

There’s a somewhat connected story that will likely get lost in the news of the verdict. Pitcher Matt Harvey has been making headlines a fair bit this week, largely in part because of his testimony and participation in the Kay trial. A story emerged regarding Harvey’s time with the Mets, as part of an interview with former Mets manager Terry Collins.

Collins, completely out of line, shared private details of conversations he had with Matt Harvey in which Harvey disclosed suicidal ideation. Collins has rightly come under fire the past few days because MLB already has a checkered history with handling mental health issues. For a manager to disclose such personal information, shared in confidence, in a media interview is appalling.

Here is some additional reading on the Collins interview and its fallout:

And now onto the rest of the links:

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.