As my colleague Mike Carlucci said earlier this week, the Red Sox need starting pitching. With the starting market providing some high potential but no true home runs, I’m personally of the belief that
Boston should try to find a No. 3 in the free agent market and conduct a trade to bring in a true No. 2 behind Garrett Crochet (I will pray every night this offseason that Joe Ryan or Hunter Greene somehow make their way to Boston). With this in mind, I think it’s best to focus on the middle-of-the-pack free agents. Specifically, the Michael Kings and Ranger Suarezes and Zac Gallensof the world make the most sense. So with that in mind, let’s take a deeper look at King and what he has to offer for a team looking for some more consistency from its rotation.
Who is he and where does he come from?
Michael King is like the Nick Pivetta of Dallas Keuchels. He’s very similar in the scope of this free agency class as Pivetta was last offseason. Of course, we all know I was all aboard the re-sign Nick Pivetta train last year, and I think King offers similar prospects this year, but with a better resume than Pivetta brought to the table.
Also, he went to Boston College! Wouldn’t it be fun for announcers to mention that an actual Red Sox player played at college in Boston and not just people on the other team? (I’m looking at you, Sal Frelick and Cam Schlittler). It’d be like Adam Ottavino coming home all over again. King turns 31 a couple of months into the 2026 season, and while he’s on the wrong side of 30, I don’t necessarily see that as a downside considering he’s just on the cusp. A major concern, more so than his age, though, is his injury history. King spent half of last season on the Padres’ IL first due to a nerve impingement in his right shoulder (ouch) and later because of knee inflammation.
Is he any good?
After getting his start with the Yankees, King made his way to San Diego in the Juan Soto deal and had a really good stretch from 2022 to 2024, before dealing with injuries last season (though he was also solid in 2025). In 2022, he pitched only out of the bullpen, but finished with a very solid 2.29 ERA (2.23 FIP) and a clean 1.000 WHIP to go along with an impressive 11.6 SO/9. He transitioned to a starting role in late 2023, and across 2023 and 2024 recorded a 2.85 ERA with a still solid 10.65 SO/9. To justify my previous Dallas Keuchel comparison, King’s sinker had a 30% K rate last season and accounted for 29 of his 76 strikeouts. But, he doesn’t rely on it as egregiously as Keuchel once did, deploying it 30% of the time, which is relatively comparable to his 24% usage of his four-seamer and 21% usage of his changeup. It plays nicely with his changeup and sweeper, which accounted for 19 and 14 strikeouts last year, respectively, and gives him a unique profile in today’s game by using a sinker as his primary fastball at only 93 mph.
TL;DR: just give me his 2025 stats
ERA: 3.44
FIP: 4.42
Ks: 76
BBs: 26 (there’s nothing I love more than a good K/BB ratio!)
15 starts
73.1 IP
Why would he be a good fit on the Red Sox?
He would be a solid option in the middle of the rotation, and his ability to limit traffic on the basepaths would be a breath of fresh air after a year of watching Walker Buehler, Lucas Giolito, Dustin May, etc., pretend like they were in a who-can-allow-more-runners-to-reach-base competition.
Why wouldn’t he be a good fit on the Red Sox?
His injury history (though not as severe as it could be) is worrying, especially considering the longevity issues of Red Sox pitchers in the recent past. But the good thing is that he’s proven he’s able to bounce back relatively well after missing time for an injury. This is much more concerning if he’s signed with the intent of being a No. 2 (which should not happen, like at all) than a No. 3, and I personally think he’s worth the relatively small risk.
What would it take to get him?
His contract projections have spanned a pretty large range thus far, but I think anything from three to four years with an AAV around $20-25 million is a fair offer that the Red Sox should definitely consider as a focus on the middle of the rotation as they let some young guys figure things out and wait for Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford do whatever the hell they’re supposed to do.
Show me a cool highlight
In 2024, he became the first pitcher to ever strike out 12 batters and allow no runs or walks in his first postseason start, so that was pretty cool!
Smash or pass?
This would be a smash for me, though I’d only be comfortable with it if a trade of some sort were to be made to acquire a No. 2 starter, rather than let that rest on King’s shoulders, especially considering his aforementioned injury history (did you get my joke in there… because he was on the IL last year with a shoulder injury… okay I’ll stop now). Ultimately, a contract of three years, $60-75 million would be more than worth it, in my opinion, and I think his approach to pitching would be a breath of fresh air from all the chaos we were subjected to watch last year.
