The first of the Padres’ offseason personnel decisions was made for them on the first day of the offseason.

As expected, Michael King declined his part of a $15 million mutual option on the contract he signed before last season, making him a free agent.

The 30-year-old right-hander is among the top starting pitchers available this winter despite losing half of his 2025 season to a nerve impingement near his right shoulder and a knee injury.

The Padres could make a qualifying offer to King, which would guarantee him $22.025 million in 2026 if he accepts. If he declines, the team he signs with would forfeit at least one draft pick while the Padres would gain a draft pick after the fourth round. The deadline to make a qualifying offer is Thursday, and players have 10 days to accept or decline.

While King made just 15 starts in 2025, he had a 3.03 ERA in 45 starts in his two seasons with the Padres. Those were his only two seasons as a full-time starter. He had a 2.95 ERA in 31 games (30 starts) while striking out 201 batters in a career-high 173⅔ innings in 2024.

With Dylan Cease also headed to free agency and Yu Darvish possibly retiring, the Padres’ incumbent starting pitchers are Joe Musgrove, Nick Pivetta, Randy Vásquez and left-hander JP Sears.

The Padres now await a decision by closer Robert Suarez, who is expected to opt out of his contract. Reliever Wandy Peralta is expected to exercise his $4.45 million option for 2026, and the Padres have indicated they will exercise their option on left fielder Ramón Laureano ($6.5 million).

The team will likely decline its portion of mutual options on catcher Elias Díaz ($7 million) and pitcher Kyle Hart ($5 million).

10 comments

  1. I know this article is kinda a rehash of the previous post but I feel the information in the bottom paragraphs is very newsworthy to the sub.

  4. Hopefully we can find some guys like Hart at a cheaper price than 5 mil. Need some league average guys that can eat some innings.

  5. With only one full season of being a starter and an injury riddled 2nd season it’ll be interesting to see how the market develops for King. He has huge upside but durability down the line is a big question mark. I wouldn’t be opposed to him coming back on a prove it type deal but I could a few teams giving him a multiyear deal, SP free agent market is sorta thin.

    Suarez is definitely gone, the guy did mostly well here and deserves to get paid. For a closer with his numbers, he certainly had a tendency for giving up HRs in the worst moments. I’ll always remember his MLB debut(giving up a walk off grand slam in Arizona on Opening Day in ’22) and that Harper HR in G5 of the ’22 NLCS.

  8. I wouldn’t mind if we keep him but also he’s kinda proven he’s all about that bag, got traded and an opportunity to start theb took us to arbitration and barely pitched all year. 🤷‍♂️ who knows how healthy he actually is, let him bet on himself. We don’t owe him anything.

  9. Give him a QO. At least we get an extra (low but hey, it’s something) draft pick out of it. Not going to find a better starter for the price if he does accept anyway (which he won’t). 

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