Tom Krasovic: Michael King's return gives the Padres a real shot at another playoff berth

Tom Krasovic, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Dec 21, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres were good at baseball last year, winning 90 games.

What still stands as a good Padres team was improved on Friday, it appears, with the announced signing of pitcher Michael King.

I buy that a bounce-back season by King in 2026 seems a fair bet, because the Padres had the most medical information on him and also have a stellar track record in the veteran starting-pitcher market since 2020.

There’s a sizable caveat.

King scarcely pitched after May due to a shoulder issue that he and the team ascribed to an awkward night’s sleep in an Atlanta hotel. The 30-year-old right-hander returned in August, then sat another month with a knee ailment caused by his comeback from the shoulder setback.

When he returned in September and made four starts, of secondary importance were the 10 runs he allowed in 15 innings. A good number of his pitches recalled 2024, when King recorded a 2.95 ERA in 31 starts; and the 10 starts this year before the shoulder-issue detour, in which he logged a 2.59 ERA supported again by good strikeout and home run ratios fit in nicely with his 2024 performance. He pitched one inning in the playoffs, striking out three hitters.

King’s new contract is worth up to $75 million and has $22 million in guaranteed money via a $12 million signing bonus, a $5 million salary in 2026 and a $5 million buyout in ’27.

A Major League Basball scout said if other teams had “trusted” King’s health, he would have “gotten a lot more money” and that “the Padres know him the best,” having employed him since October 2023.

The Padres have placed in the top half of the major leagues in run prevention in five of the past six years and were second in 2023 and 2025. In recent offseasons, A.J. Preller, the club’s president of baseball operations, made high-value signings of veteran starting pitchers Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and 2025 ace Nick Pivetta. And he made sharp trades for Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, Joe Mugrove, King and Dylan Cease.

Noting the $58 million in player options in King’s new deal — $28 million for ’27 and $30 million for ’28 — the scout said that if King “is hurt or not good,” the Padres will feel it. “Ton of downside,” he said.

But, once again, the club improved its upfront cash flow in return for assuming greater future risk.

“I don’t want to say it was a discount by any means,” King said Friday. “It’s still a lot of money. I’m very happy with the contract. I can definitely prove that I’m valuable. I also think it continues to make me want to be a better pitcher and not settle just based on a contract that I signed.”

Having King, Pivetta and Joe Musgrove under contract, said Preller, gives the team a trio of frontline starters to project into the 2026 season. “You’ve got to start with starting pitching, and elite performers who can throw innings,” he said.

If the uncertainties of pitching are evident in King’s contract, there was only clarity at the news conference announcing King’s return.

Preller and King hit on several winning themes. Padres fan support. Team-building efforts that have led to four playoff berths in the past six years. King’s respect for Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla. A hunger within the franchise and the fan base to win the franchise’s first World Series trophy. San Diego’s biotech hub that links with efforts by King and his wife, Sheila, to support efforts to combat Type 1 diabetes.

King twice noted that the Padres were “bounced” out of the first round of the recent postseason.

“I want to be part of a championship team, and that was the No. 1 pillar that I set of teams that I go to,” he said. “It needs to be a team that is going to win throughout the duration of the contract, and I have a ton of trust in A.J. to do that.”

Preller framed King’s signing as a reward for what the franchise — including King — and its fans have accomplished, making the Padres a destination.

“Michael obviously grew up on the East Coast and went to school there,” he said. “That was where his priority was. But when you hear things like, ‘Hey, the one West Coast team that he wants to play for is the Padres because of his experiences there with the team, the roster, the city, the ownership group, the whole thing — and, then definitely the fans — it’s a good feeling.’”

Two months ago, the season ended with a thud in the wild-card round. Last month, team owners announced they’re open to selling the club.

King’s return felt like a timely boost for the Padres and their fans — a reminder that the Padres have a real shot to reach a third consecutive postseason.

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