Let’s shift gears a bit here and talk about the exact sort of free agent Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer seems to like to go after.
Mid-range starter? Check.
Injury history? Check.
Had some
success that could be built on? Sure.
Michael King had several good years as a reliever/spot starter for the Yankees, then was included in the deal that sent Juan Soto to New York.
King had a very good year in San Diego in 2024: 2.95 ERA, 1.192 WHIP in 173.2 innings. That got him a seventh-place finish in Cy Young voting. He seemed positioned to have a big year in 2025, then missed much of it with a thoracic nerve issue and knee injury that limited him to 15 starts. Returning from the injuries in September, he made four starts with a 5.74 ERA, which sounds bad but three of those starts were pretty good. In the other one he got torched by the Mets for eight runs in three innings.
King did not start in the Wild Card Series against the Cubs. He threw one scoreless inning of relief in the deciding Game 3 and was likely going to be a starter had the Padres advanced to the Division Series.
The Padres and King had a $15.5 million mutual option for 2025 which King declined earlier this week, making him a free agent.
The staff of The Athletic says King could get a three-year, $75 million deal. Matthew Pouliot’s ranking has him somewhat higher: Three years, $84 million.
Again, this is just the sort of pitcher that Jed Hoyer seems to like — comparable to signing Matthew Boyd last offseason, and that worked out pretty well.
Would you sign King?
