The San Diego Padres have a clear priority this offseason, and it starts with Michael King.
After a year in which the rotation offered almost nothing beyond King, the right-hander stands out as the one free agent the club can’t afford to lose. He was the lone steady presence in a bleak group, turning in a 3.21 ERA over a career-high 185 innings, along with a career-best 4.3 bWAR and 32 starts.
He was just as sharp when the games mattered most. In the postseason, King gave up only one earned run in 14 innings across two starts and one relief outing, striking out 15 while walking five.
That kind of production won’t come cheap. King recently declined the final two years and $58 million on his contract, which was no surprise given the market he’s expected to draw. Some projections have him landing a deal worth $140 million at age 31.
If he stays in San Diego, the Padres would again be leaning on him as the ace of the staff. But the bigger point is that his return would help prevent a repeat of last season’s rotation mess, one that would have looked even worse without him.
There were some reasons for the Padres’ pitching issues beyond King. Joe Musgrove didn’t return until the postseason and then only in a bullpen role, Nick Pivetta missed nearly five months, and Walker Buehler opened the year on a minor league deal before posting a 5.36 ERA before the All-Star break. Buehler did settle in later, finishing his final 13 regular-season starts with a 3.62 ERA.
Still, the overall picture was ugly enough to spill over into the bullpen. The relievers were forced to cover the fourth-most innings in MLB, and that workload showed up in October when their weaknesses were exposed.
Bringing King back would give the Padres a chance to stabilize the top of the staff before they start filling in the rest. If he’s gone, the club could end up patching together the rotation with average arms again - and face the same bullpen problems next October.
In Other News...
Padres Just Lost Another Wave Of Depth With One Familiar Name Gone
The Padres offseason depth chart took another hit this week, with a long list of minor league free agents peeling away from the organization. According to the teams transaction log on MiLB.com, San Diego has now lost 11 position players and eight pitchers from the system, a reminder of how quickly the margins can thin once the roster churn of the winter begins.
Among the names on the move is Johnson, who logged 134 MLB games for the Padres and had become one of the more familiar holdovers in the organization. The rest of the list includes players who spent the 2026 season at various minor league levels, which is the part that matters most for a club like San Diego, where every bit of upper-level depth can end up relevant before long. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Prospect Kannon Kemp Suddenly Faces A Tough Development Question
Kannon Kemps Arizona Fall League stint has become a useful snapshot of where the Padres prospect stands after injuries cost him significant development time. The right-hander still shows the kind of velocity and pitch mix that made him an intriguing arm in the system, but the command issues have been hard to ignore, and the overall quality of his pitches has not matched the expectations that followed him into the fall.
For San Diego, that leaves Kemp in a familiar but tricky spot for a young pitcher trying to get back on track. The raw stuff is still there, which is why he remains worth watching, but the organization now has to sort through what comes next and whether his next step should be more refinement or a different level of competition altogether. [Read more 🡒]
Tatis Just Gave Padres Fans A New Debate About His Value
Fernando Tatis Jr. has given Padres fans another reason to argue about just how valuable he really is, and this one comes with hardware attached. The star was nominated for the 2026 National League Silver Slugger Award at two positions, outfield and utility, a reflection of how much his game has stretched beyond the usual box score label. He spent 53 games at second base and handled the spot with a .979 fielding percentage, while still producing at the plate with a .289 average, 25 home runs and 83 RBIs.
The unusual split only adds to the intrigue, because Tatis is now up against a deep field of contenders at both spots and could put himself in Padres record territory if he comes away with one or both awards. For a player whose value has always sparked debate, the nomination underscores how much his versatility has mattered to San Diego this season. The only question left is whether the voters will reward him in one role, both, or leave the Padres waiting to see how the final tally shakes out. [Read more 🡒]