SANTA ANA, Calif. — A former labor lawyer for the Major League Baseball Players Association pushed back Wednesday on questioning from an Angels attorney whose queries took aim at the future career earnings of Tyler Skaggs.

Jeff Fannell, who worked for the MLBPA for a decade and still consults with the union as part of his private practice, testified to his belief that Skaggs would have earned between $109 million and $120 million had he been able to finish his career. Fannell is a paid expert hired by the Skaggs legal team, and the Skaggs lawyers have used his report as part of their damages claim.

Skaggs died on July 1, 2019, after ingesting a fentanyl-laced pill given to him by ex-Angels communications director Eric Kay, who is serving a 22-year federal prison sentence. Skaggs’ family is suing the team for wrongful death, alleging the team knew or should have known that Kay was giving Skaggs pills.

As part of Fannell’s report, he compared Skaggs to current pitcher Taijuan Walker, who signed a two-year, $20 million contract in 2020, the same year Skaggs would have been a free agent. Walker later inked a four-year, $72 million contract.

Angels attorney David Keithly questioned Fannell on this comparison, using Fannell’s report. He attempted to highlight that Walker was a superior pitcher and not an adequate comparison. However, he stuck strictly with ERA comparisons, first noting that Walker’s 3.60 ERA in 2013 was better than Skaggs’ 5.12.

However, Fannell quickly pointed out that Walker pitched in just three games in 2013, totaling 15 innings, while Skaggs pitched in just seven games.

“Quality is not just ERA,” Fannell said, adding it should also include the statistic Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP).

Keithly also asked Fannell about Walker being more durable, totaling 82 starts between 2015 and 2017, the same window in which Skaggs was recuperating from Tommy John surgery. However, Fannell pointed out that Walker’s 2018-2020 seasons were injury-riddled, making just 14 total starts, while Skaggs’ two best seasons were the last two before his death. Skaggs made 39 starts over 2018 and the first half of 2019.

Keithly asked Fannell if Walker was ever an All-Star, which he was. But, Fannell noted, he was only an All-Star in 2021, after signing that aforementioned free-agent contract.

Attempting to discredit Fannell’s 2019 projection of Skaggs’ stats, Keithly used language that the Skaggs side objected to when bringing up the document. Fannell’s 2019 projection was essentially doubling his first-half numbers, since Skaggs died at the halfway mark of the 2019 season.

“You did something a little tricky with Tyler’s stats,” Keithly said of the projected numbers. He later characterized it as a “fake platform year,” referring to Fannell’s description of the final year before a player hits free agency. Keithly also repeatedly referred to Fannell’s source of statistics as a “secret database” since it wasn’t publicly available.

The Angels’ expert witness on future earnings is ex-MLB general manager Dan Duquette, who, according to a source with knowledge of the Angels defense’s thinking, will argue Skaggs should have earned between $0 and $30 million. Keithly attempted to contrast Fannell with Duquette by asking if he’d spoken to Duquette in making his calculation.

“When I make projections, I don’t talk to club officials,” Fannell said. “I would never do that. So no, I did not talk to Dan Duquette.”

Fannell was asked if he took into account that Skaggs had struggled and gotten hurt in the latter half of the 2018 season, which he said he hadn’t. He only looked at the entire body of work for the whole year.

Keithly also asked if it was important “to have good people in your clubhouse” and if “it’s important to not have people crushing up and snorting pills in the clubhouse.”

The Angels lawyer tried to contrast Skaggs with Dodgers World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto — the highest-paid pitcher in MLB history — by noting that Yamamoto has seven pitches in his repertoire and Skaggs had only three.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Fannell deadpanned.

Keithly ended his questioning by showing Fannell an email he’d sent to another MLBPA executive, Ian Penny. In the email, Fannell explained his role as an expert witness and wrote, “It’s a house of cards, to be sure, but there is no question that the actions of a former club employee put us here.”

Keithly, who tried to showcase that Fannell’s projection was too rosy, asked if his entire calculation was “a house of cards.” Fannell responded by saying no and asking if he could share what the house of cards actually was. Keithly quickly said “no” and ended his questioning.

Skaggs attorney Daniel Dutko then jumped up and said he wanted to know what Fannell meant.

Fannell responded by saying he knew his projections would be attacked, and they were. But he added: “There is no question that the actions of a former club employee is what put us here. The club failed to protect Tyler Skaggs from one of its employees.”

The Skaggs side also called Dr. Stacey Hail, a medical expert on the pitcher’s cause of death. She provided key testimony at Kay’s criminal trial, arguing that Skaggs would have lived “but for” the fentanyl in his system.

She reiterated her testimony Wednesday, three-plus years later and to a different jury. Questioned by Skaggs attorney Rusty Hardin, Hail said she reviewed all the factors — both the toxicology report from the medical examiner and the case’s other relevant evidence. Hail was “100 percent” confident that the fentanyl killed Skaggs.

This is an extremely important element of this case, as the Angels hope to show Skaggs’ use of alcohol and oxycodone — which were also in his system — were significant contributing factors to his death. In so doing, the Angels are hoping to reduce the responsibility of Kay and, subsequently, the team.

Hail said it’s likely Skaggs died very soon after snorting the fentanyl. She testified that the oxycodone was likely ingested well before the fentanyl, given there was evidence of it in Skaggs’ urine test, indicating it was further in the process of passing through his system. However, the same was not true of the fentanyl, Hail said.

Hail noted this was “very important when you’re trying to determine a proximate cause.”

She also testified that fentanyl can be up to 100 times more potent than oxycodone, and it’s become a burgeoning issue over the last eight or so years, as synthetic drugs are cheaper to make.

Hail said adding alcohol and oxycodone to fentanyl “potentiates the effect of the opioid” but noted that it doesn’t create “some super opioid.”

On cross-examination, Angels attorney Kevin Yopp showcased the medical examiner’s report, which said the cause of death included all three of the substances Skaggs had ingested.

Hail said this was not in contrast to her opinion and that it’s the medical examiner’s job to include everything relevant that they detect in the decedent’s system. Yopp attempted to get Hail to say that the alcohol and oxycodone were “substantial factors,” which would carry legal significance in California. But Hail responded by saying, “That is incorrect.”

Yopp asked Hail on multiple occasions if it was Skaggs’ choice to ingest the pills, and she said each time that it was. She also acknowledged that it’s not safe to mix opioids and alcohol, which Skaggs had done.

“Alcohol may enhance the respiratory depression of opioids?” Yopp asked, referring to earlier Hail testimony in which she said opioids slow breathing. She said he was correct.

Hail attempted to pre-emptively contrast her testimony from that of Angels expert witness Dr. Shaun Carstairs, who, Hail said, will argue that the lower concentration of fentanyl (3.8 nanograms per milliliter) compared to the higher concentration of oxycodone (38 ng/mL) is relevant.

“That is a flawed methodology,” Hail said, noting that the concentration isn’t fully reflective of the facts and can be different based on where in the body you collect the sample to test.

Manfred addresses trial

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred was asked at the annual owners meetings in New York about this trial, which sees one of the league’s 30 teams defending itself in a high-profile lawsuit.

Manfred largely declined to comment, saying it wouldn’t be appropriate at the time and that he didn’t want to state any opinions based on press reports on transcripts.

He did, however, add, “I haven’t had time to read the whole transcript, and you know we will when it’s all over with,” indicating the league will review this trial at its conclusion.

Notably, the Skaggs side filed a motion with the judge Friday, asking for a mid-trial subpoena of MLB to address testimony from an Angels vice president that Hardin characterized as “perjury.” Angels HR director Deborah Johnston testified that the team had notified MLB of Kay’s drug abuse.

MLB denied Johnston’s claim in a statement on Nov. 11 to The Athletic.

“Neither MLB or The Drug Oversight Committee, which is responsible for administering and overseeing MLB’s Drug Policy and Prevention Program, was notified of or involved in the treatment of Eric Kay,” an MLB spokesperson said.

— Evan Drellich contributed reporting to this story.