The Chicago Cubs are searching for pitching this winter.

This much we know.

Even with Shota Imanaga returning to the team when he accepted the one-year qualifying offer earlier this week, the Cubs have already said their top priority this offseason is on building up the pitching staff.

Imanaga re-joins Cade Horton, Matthew Boyd and Jameson Taillon in the current Cubs rotation, with former ace Justin Steele set to return from injury at some point in the first couple months of the 2026 season.

But the Cubs know full well how important rotation depth is — they lived through it in the playoffs. Manager Craig Counsell really had only Boyd and Taillon to turn to in the postseason, as Horton and Steele were on the IL (Steele missed nearly the entire 2025 season) and Imanaga’s home run woes relegated him to the bullpen for one outing and largely a nonfactor in the NLDS.

Adding depth is only part of it, however. The Cubs want — frankly, need — quality options in the rotation, too. Health is not guaranteed (again, as we found out in 2025), but neither is performance.

So who could the Cubs acquire to help strengthen the rotation?

There are already links between the Cubs and Dylan Cease as well as Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai.

But there is also another option that may be flying under the radar a bit — an option that also carries attractive upside and could be a strong fit for the Cubs for a lot of reasons.

The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney joined Marquee Sports Network’s Lance Brozdowski on the Cubs Weekly Podcast this week to discuss the state of Cubs pitching.

And one name they discussed was Michael King — the veteran right-handed pitcher who zigged this week while Imanaga zagged, declining the qualifying offer from the San Diego Padres.

Brozdowski called King “the most upside piece,” though there is now draft pick compensation attached given that he declined the qualifying offer.

“I think King is certainly a name that we’ve had circled,” Mooney said. “If you look at what the Cubs have done in the last few free agent cycles, they’ve done a good job of identifying Shota, Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon – they have a type and King sort of fits it in terms of pitchability, intelligence, athleticism, some untapped upside.”

[Check out the complete Cubs Weekly Podcast episode on the Marquee Sports Network app.]

King will turn 31 in May and has only been a full-time starter for two years. He began his MLB career as a lights-out reliever for the New York Yankees, racking up 27 holds and seven saves with a 2.88 ERA from 2021 through 2023.

He did make 15 starts with the Yankees during that time, but 90 of his appearances came out of the bullpen.

The Yankees traded King to the Padres as part of the Juan Soto deal in December 2023 and King lobbied to transition into a full-time starter role.

He made 45 starts and one relief appearance for the Padres over the last two seasons, pitching to a strong 3.10 ERA and 1.19 WHIP while striking out 277 batters in 247 innings.

King missed about half the 2025 season with shoulder and knee injuries and by the time he returned in September, he was unable to make much of an impact on a Padres playoff team. He did pitch once against the Cubs in the NL Wild Card Series, tossing a scoreless inning with three strikeouts in Game 3.

“I think it’s interesting how he really lobbied to become a starter,” Mooney said. “From everything I’ve read that he took control of his career and had a lot of self confidence and willingness to go out and work and get better. As you know, Lance, when you talk to [Cubs pitching coach] Tommy Hottovy and some of these other guys in the pitching group, those are traits that are really attractive to them.

“Obviously San Diego’s a great place to pitch with a great pitching group as well, but their finances are probably gonna be tighter this offseason. And you put King in a place like Chicago and the way Wrigley Field has been so pitcher-friendly recently, I think he would fit in really well and would come in well under probably what Dylan Cease is dreaming about right now.”

MLB Trade Rumors ranked Cease as the No. 3 free agent on the market, projecting the right-hander to get $189 million over seven years.

King was ranked as the 14th free agent and projected to get $80 million over four years.