The Juan Soto trade has already paid the Yankees in one obvious way: 41 home runs and a trip to the World Series. Then Soto left anyway, signing with the Mets, and the Padres are still cashing the other side of that deal. On Sunday afternoon, Michael King gets the stage to remind New York what it gave up.
King is set to start the series finale against the Yankees, with Gerrit Cole lined up for New York. The matchup is hard to miss. The Yankees’ ace will face the pitcher they sent away in order to rent Soto for a season.
A while ago, King stopped being just the biggest name in the return package. In San Diego, he became exactly the kind of starter the Padres had in mind after the Yankees had mostly used him as a multi-innings reliever. Over three seasons with the Padres, he has thrown 409 innings with a 3.10 ERA.
This year, King has gone 9-9 with a 3.11 ERA and 141 strikeouts in 162 innings. He comes into Sunday on the back of back-to-back scoreless starts, logging 13 innings against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
The Yankees always knew King could pitch. They had seen it in relief and in short starter looks. They just chose one year of Soto over finding out how far King could go.
And King is only part of the picture. When San Diego sent Soto and Trent Grisham to New York in December 2023, the Padres got King, Randy Vásquez, Jhony Brito, Drew Thorpe and Kyle Higashioka back.
Vásquez has been uneven but mostly dependable. Brito is back on the Padres’ roster.
Thorpe was later included in the deal that brought in Dylan Cease. Higashioka is no longer with the club, though he did deliver some big moments before moving on.
San Diego was never going to replace Soto piece for piece. That wasn’t the assignment. The goal was to turn his final year of control into a group of players who would still matter after he was gone.
Soto was brilliant in New York, and nobody is trying to relitigate who won the trade. Grisham has also continued to supply meaningful home runs, even while hitting .211/.308/.395 over the 2026 season.
The Yankees took on a massive cost and got a World Series run out of it. That was the wager.
King against Cole doesn’t settle the whole thing. But if King wins that duel, the price of the Soto deal will be staring the Yankees right in the face.
In Other News...
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Padres Just Watched A Familiar Yankees Problem Resurface
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For San Diego fans, it was another reminder of a familiar issue following Grisham around this season, since he had already missed time with a similar hamstring strain. Even before any formal diagnosis, the timing matters for New York because a center fielder trying to stay on the field after one leg issue is now dealing with another, and the next step will tell the Yankees how long they might be without him. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Near A Nick Pivetta Decision They Cant Afford To Miss
Nick Pivettas path back to the Padres has already taken a few detours, and the next checkpoint comes in a bullpen session that should help determine whether he is ready to rejoin the active roster. After his minor league rehab assignment was paused following one outing because of elbow discomfort, he returned for two more appearances, keeping his comeback alive while San Diego weighs how to use him if he clears the final hurdle.
The timing matters because the Padres have built more stability into their rotation through recent acquisitions and better work from the group already in place, which gives the club some flexibility but not much room for a misstep. With a narrow lead in the NL wild card race, the question is not just whether Pivetta is healthy enough to help, but whether the Padres can decide quickly and correctly on a starter-or-bullpen role before the pressure of the stretch run tightens even more. [Read more 🡒]