MLB, Your Turn

🔥FIRST PITCH — The Settlement

The Angels didn’t settle with the Skaggs family because they suddenly found clarity.

They settled because the jury did.

After six years, 31 days of testimony, and more than two days of deliberation, the signs were clear enough that both sides knew where this was heading. Only then did the Angels agree to a confidential settlement — just before a verdict that might have forced something they’ve avoided all along: accountability.

Eric Kay is in prison.
That part is settled.

The Skaggs family said it plainly: the truth came out in court — and now they’re waiting on Major League Baseball to do something with it.

For six years, MLB treated it like a tragedy with an expiration date. Something to outlast, not confront. While the legal system moved slowly, it did what the league wouldn’t — it forced the issue into daylight..

What responsibility do teams have when warning signs are ignored?
And what does “player safety” actually mean if accountability only arrives at the courthouse steps?

This wasn’t just a family seeking closure.

It was a test of whether baseball is willing to look at itself — or whether it prefers settlements to answers.

🟢 THE GOOD — Here Come The Braves

2025 was a mess in Atlanta.
Injuries everywhere. Rhythm nowhere. A season that slid off the rails early and never quite recovered.

So this winter, the Braves did something refreshingly boring.

They fixed things.

They rebuilt the bullpen with actual bite — pairing Robert Suarez with Raisel Iglesias — and tightened the infield with Ha-Seong Kim and Mauricio Dubón. Add Mike Yastrzemski to the outfield mix and suddenly this looks like a roster that remembers what it’s supposed to do.

No splashy headlines.
No desperate swings.
Just smart, deliberate moves.

This is what competence looks like.

If this group stays healthy in 2026, Atlanta won’t be a fun surprise.
They’ll be the team nobody enjoys playing — because they don’t beat themselves.

And in this league, that’s usually enough to matter.

🔴 THE BAD — Pittsburgh’s Flexibility Problem

Earlier this offseason, Pirates GM Ben Cherington promised “more financial flexibility” with improving the roster.

That sounded like progress.
It wasn’t.

What followed were two polite, half-speed offers — Kyle Schwarber, Josh Naylor — both quickly rejected. Less pursuit, more performance. The kind of bids that look good in a press release and nowhere else.

And that’s the real issue.

This is a franchise with four winning seasons in the last 30 years — and right now has the most electric young pitcher in baseball. Paul Skenes isn’t a prospect. He’s a rare gift.

This is the window, Buccos.

When you have a player like that, flexibility isn’t something you talk about.
It’s something you execute on.

If you’re not willing to push when the door is wide open, then this isn’t a rebirth.
It’s a holding pattern.

And Pittsburgh fans have seen that movie before.

💊 THE UGLY — The Halos

MLB, it’s now your turn.

The Tyler Skaggs wrongful death trial might be over.
Still many questions remain.

What did the Angels know — and when?

Testimony revealed that Eric Kay admitted his drug use to a superior years before Tyler Skaggs died. The Angels claimed they didn’t know enough to act. The Skaggs family says the warning signs were ignored.

Was this a rogue employee problem? Or an oversight issue?

Tyler Skaggs died in 2019.

Yet it took a courtroom, six years later, to force the Angels to confront the tragedy.

Now, the ball is in MLB’s court. Will they act?

🚙 ONE FOR THE ROAD — The Big House Ballgame

Because of course the Veecks are involved.

The Joliet Slammers — owned by the Veeck family and Bill Murray — are taking baseball to a new venue next spring: a prison.

The Slammers will play an exhibition game inside Old Joliet Prison — the prison immortalized in The Blues Brothers.

Yes, that prison.

Baseball was played there by inmates for decades.
But a professional team playing a game behind bars?

That’s a new one.

It’s weird.
It’s unnecessary.
It’s very on-brand for the Veecks.

And honestly?
It sounds kind of perfect.

Have a Great weekend!

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