Padres' Michael King, a potential top free agent, is back to pursue a collective prize

New York Times

2 days ago

SAN DIEGO — Even after a 12-week hiatus and a display of apparent rust, Michael King figures to be among the top pitchers available in free agency this winter. His ability to focus is one reason; at the moment, the Padres right-hander is preoccupied with making at least several more starts for what he calls the best team he's ever been on.
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'It's the best bullpen I've been a part of, the best rotation I've been a part of, probably the best lineup I've been a part of,' King said Friday. 'And when you have all three of those guys working, it's a pretty tough horse. So, the excitement for me to actually be a part of it is definitely real.'
San Diego's Opening Day starter was speaking on the eve of his return. He had been sidelined since late May because of an injury to his long thoracic nerve that sapped the strength in his throwing shoulder. As King waited to pitch again, he became a father, the Padres traded for six big leaguers in one day and the club remained in contention for its first National League West title since 2006.
Saturday, they stayed within striking distance with perhaps their biggest addition of the summer on the mound. There were more memorable sequences than King's brief yet busy outing — he threw 57 pitches over two-plus innings of two-run ball — but few players will be more important for the Padres from here until October.
'Just having him come out of the game healthy … is a win for us,' shortstop Xander Bogaerts said after the Padres walked off the Boston Red Sox, 5-4, in 10 innings. 'Obviously, we want to win the game, but we know that's someone that we would need in the long run.'
Winning, of course, did not hurt. Amid a playoff-like atmosphere at Petco Park, the Padres rebounded from a lopsided defeat — the Red Sox rolled to an eight-run rout Friday night — to flex their newfound depth. A lineup no longer burdened by obvious weaknesses drew four consecutive two-out walks — including a pair from deadline acquisitions Ryan O'Hearn and Ramón Laureano — to take a one-run lead in the fifth. The best bullpen King believes he has ever played with got a combined eight innings and 14 strikeouts out of six relievers.
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In the 10th, with two on and no outs, Laureano received a bunt sign he may or may not have recognized and opted to swing at the first pitch. He redirected it for a chopper over the head of Gold Glove third baseman Alex Bregman, scoring Bogaerts and ending the game.
'I don't really know the sign really well,' said Laureano, who joined O'Hearn in a July 31 trade from Baltimore, 'but obviously, I was in between. This game, you can't be in between. So, I was just like, 'Let's chop this down and move (the baseball) like that,' I guess.'
It's Ramón's world and we're just living in it 🤘 pic.twitter.com/n6VY2h9lHy
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 10, 2025
With eight RBIs since his arrival, Laureano has fit right in — the Padres, especially these days, do not traffic in indecisiveness. They have won 10 of their past 13 games. They trail the Los Angeles Dodgers by only three games, with two head-to-head series looming over the next two weeks.
San Diego's reinforced offense appears to match up well. So does a bullpen that, with former Athletics closer Mason Miller serving as a setup man, might indeed be the best in the majors.
'We were joking (that) with Laureano in the seven-hole with the .900 OPS, it's just like, how do you attack that?' King said. 'It's been the case for the last few days where you just got to try to keep us in it, and you know our bullpen is going to put up zeroes and our lineup's going to produce.'
For now, though, King might be overestimating the starting rotation. Nick Pivetta made a strong case that he should have gone to his first All-Star Game, but the right-hander was signed to be more of a mid-rotation arm than San Diego's most reliable starter. Yu Darvish is a 38-year-old wonder, even as his history of elbow injuries suggests he has approached the twilight of his career.
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The Padres kept Dylan Cease at the deadline while bringing in Nestor Cortes and JP Sears, but they could come to miss Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek, two up-and-coming righties they traded away. The rotation has produced only one quality start since July ended; for as deep as the bullpen is, it can't keep averaging four or more innings a night and expect to stay dominant.
'We really do need to get innings out of our starters to be able to use our bullpen appropriately,' Padres manager Mike Shildt said.
The return of King, then, represents a possible season-changer. Before he contracted a rare ailment the Padres said stemmed from sleeping wrong, he had pitched to a 2.59 earned-run average in 10 starts. He had been roughly as good over an even larger sample.
Among pitchers who have thrown at least 200 innings since the start of 2024, his 2.92 ERA ranks 11th, a couple of spots behind Arizona's Corbin Burnes (2.85 ERA) and just ahead of another potential free agent, Houston's Framber Valdez (2.93 ERA). Burnes signed a six-year, $210 million contract in December. Valdez is more proven than King, but also 18 months older and with significantly more mileage on his arm.
Burnes' megadeal has already turned disastrous; the former Cy Young Award winner underwent Tommy John surgery in June and will be sidelined well into next season. It's a cautionary tale that probably won't stop Valdez from securing a nine-figure payday. King, despite the time he missed, could land in the same ballpark. Frontline starting pitching continues to be of immense value.
And teams are just as concerned with underlying numbers. King on Saturday averaged 93 mph with his four-seam fastball and 92.6 mph with his sinker; his velocity was in line with where it was before he went on the injured list. The vertical and horizontal movement on each of his five pitches was either at his season average or slightly above it.
'After the first (inning), I asked (Padres pitching coach) Ruben (Niebla) about all his metrics and how things were coming out,' Shildt said. 'And he said, 'Spot on.'' A rival scout who watched the outing agreed that King's stuff appeared intact.
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His command and execution, understandably, were further behind.
'He normally doesn't spray the ball around that much,' said Bogaerts, who homered, drove in two runs and thwarted a stolen-base attempt to help the Padres overcome a costly balk earlier in the game. 'So, him getting more reps, he'll be fine.'
Thanks for the run, Manny!
A failed hidden ball trick gift wraps a run for the Sox 🎁 pic.twitter.com/YwOD3JFt4e
— NESN (@NESN) August 10, 2025
'I think the release point was off a little bit on some pitches, but had to make those adjustments,' said King, who threw 34 pitches in the second inning after throwing a total of 61 pitches in a rehab start last weekend. 'And I think when I'm really rolling, I can make those one-pitch adjustments. It took me a couple pitches to make those adjustments, and I will definitely be faster to do those in my next outings.'
He and the Padres intend to make the most of however many outings they have left together. After the World Series, King is expected to decline a $15 million mutual option and attract much larger offers on the open market. Team officials do not foresee much of a chance that Cease, another pending free agent and a Scott Boras client, stays in San Diego. There is greater hope that King re-ups in the city where his career has taken off. But there is not delusion.
In the meantime, the Padres can continue their aggressive pursuit of a collective prize. King is one of the main reasons.
Last Oct. 1, after starring throughout the summer, he shut out the Atlanta Braves in one of the finest playoff performances in franchise history. He retook the mound a week later and kept his team in a game it eventually won, putting the Dodgers on the brink of elimination. Then, the Padres failed to score over the next two games. The Dodgers went on to win it all. The Padres went home thinking about a slew of missed opportunities.
Yet, here they are again, threatening to overtake L.A. once more. And here is King again, back for the rest of another pennant race. How he progresses will go a long way toward determining whether this is truly the best team he's ever been on.
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