Padres To Re-Sign Michael King

The Padres are in agreement with Michael King on a three-year contract, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The deal includes opt-outs after each of the first two seasons. It’s a $75MM guarantee, Feinsand adds. King receives a $12MM signing bonus and a $5MM salary for the 2026 season. He’ll decide on a $28MM player option or $5MM buyout next winter and would have a $30MM player option for 2028 if he doesn’t opt out.

It’s a surprise strike for a San Diego team that had seemed likely to lose King and Dylan Cease in free agency. It wasn’t clear whether they’d have the short-term spending capacity to keep either pitcher. While they were never expected to come close to the $210MM guarantee which Cease received, they’ll bring King back on a short-term deal to help a rotation that has been their biggest priority this offseason.

The 2026 season will be the righty’s third in San Diego. The Padres acquired King as the centerpiece of their Juan Soto return over the 2023-24 offseason. He had run with a limited rotation opportunity late in his final year in the Bronx after years of strong work out of the bullpen. San Diego committed to him as a full-time starter and were rewarded with a career season in 2024.

King pitched to a 2.95 earned run average with 201 strikeouts over 173 2/3 innings in his first full season out of the rotation. He finished seventh in NL Cy Young balloting. King entered his walk year as a candidate for a nine-figure contract. He looked on his way to a $150MM+ deal after getting out to an even better beginning to the ’25 campaign. He turned in a 2.59 ERA while striking out 28.4% of batters faced over his first 10 starts.

More to come.