RIP Tyler Skaggs

He had tj surgery in 2014.

 

Guys can hide an addiction ... as long as they don't die.

 

Is TJ surgery and recovery particularly painful? All the stories I hear about oxy addiction start with back injuries, knee replacements or chronic pain situations.

 

So the Santa Monica Observer was right all along.

 

I can't imagine it makes your arm feel good. And just in general, well, throwing a baseball is a violent action. It's not football, where the pain relief problem is more glaring, but it's not much of a stretch for me to imagine that baseball might have a similar, smaller problem with guys addicted to painkillers. (Especially when guys get shit for missing starts, and fans expect every player to pull a Curt Schilling.)

 

Here’s what law school taught me: nothing is more powerful than the facts. Which means if you don’t want a story to come out, don’t create the facts of that story. Corollary, if you don’t like it, don’t read it.

The SM Observer was right, any that means something. People were using emotion to justify shutting a story down. That’s simply wrong. Rely on reading comprehension; not prior restraint to dissolve a story.

Learned Hand (IIRC) said to always rely on “the marketplace of ideas” to decide whether something has merit or not, not prior restraint.

 

The SM Observer situation was weird from the get go. I never read the story that was pulled and I inferred from the editor's description that it was a lot of speculation. Then the stuff about made up reporters and fake profile photos. How does a publication like the Observer get that information? Other places heard it, but couldn't verify?

 

Yikes
OTL: Team aware of Skaggs' drug use, DEA told

 

So this noise that nobody knew and was shocked was a bunch of baloney. I feel bad for any family that goes through addiction - it is painful for everyone involved. But the people I feel most sympathy for now are those that took place in the charade after Skaggs died. Might have been more powerful and meaningful if they came out with his drug addiction stuff as soon as it went down.
And as for the SM Observer - if they had the facts and the story cold and could back it up beyond speculation - sure you don't shut it down. But there is a difference between being right and being able to prove it.

 

These never end well, do they?

For the Angels to do the public mourning thing while an employee was enabling him ... wow.

 

Then again - if the family doesn't sue the Angels for $40m or so (which they could conceivable get) - it seems like a small price to pay.

 

Learned Hand may be the greatest name in legal history. His only competition is Increase Mather.