right-handed Michael King He has turned down a mutual option with the Padres, according to a report by Kevin Acy of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He will enter free agency with a $3.75MM buyout rather than remain with the Padres and be paid $15MM next year.
King’s decision was entirely expected. The mutual option was never actually exercised, and King only had to pay $11.25 in free agency to lead the option-decline option. That’s a number he’s essentially guaranteed to clear, both due to the high prices for starting pitchers in recent free agent classes and King’s own success in recent years. After entering the rotation as a member of the Yankees in late August 2023, King started eight games and finished the season with a 1.88 ERA and 31.4% strikeout rate. After being shipped to San Diego as part of the offseason Juan Soto In his first full-time season as a starter, he posted a 2.95 ERA in 173 2/3 innings and finished seventh in last year’s NL Cy Young Award voting.
2025 wasn’t as good as 2024, as King was limited to 15 games due to nerve issues in his throwing shoulder and subsequent knee issues. King did return to the mound later in the year, but didn’t look his usual dominant self, posting a 5.74 ERA in 15 2/3 innings in September. However, he looked much better in a scoreless relief outing against the Cubs and had no problem striking out all three batters he faced. That’s good news, because before the injury, King looked as dominant as ever in his first 10 starts of the year, posting a 2.59 ERA and a 3.26 FIP. While he finished the year with a 24.7% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate, before his injury, those numbers were 28.4% and 7.6%, respectively.
Because of how dominant King is when healthy, he enters free agency with a real chance of landing a strong multi-year deal as long as suitors are confident that this year’s shoulder issues are behind him. King is marketing his age-31 season, so given that fact and the shoulder issues he’s had this season, he could be left out of the five-, six- or seven-year contracts that the top aces on the market have been offered in recent years. Even so, he should have a chance to clear out on the open market in a pretty nice way, something that would have been hard to imagine during his first few years in the league as a reliever for the Yankees.
In the short term, it seems almost certain that the Padres will make a qualifying offer to King, but it seems equally likely that King will reject it. That process will tie King to draft compensation this winter. Last month, MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk took a look at what each team would get if they lost an eligible free agent, as well as the penalty they would have to pay to sign one. If King leaves San Diego, the Padres will receive a compensatory pick after the fourth round of the 2026 draft. Of course, this would only come into play if King doesn’t re-sign with the Padres. The team’s clear need at the top of the rotation means a reunion can’t be completely ruled out, but San Diego has avoided offering big paydays to free agent starters in recent years, instead taking a more creative approach.
