This was INEVITABLE... Huge Padres Update!

This was inevitable as Michael King has opted out of his deal. What does this mean for the Padres? Will he come back or go to another team? Are we screwed? Let's talk about it. Hi, welcome back to another episode of Padres Digest with your host, Andrew. Today, I thought I would start your day off, and by start your day off, I mean it's noon, with some bad news. Like I said, Michael King, opting out of his deal. I'll have my thoughts on this in just a second. Before that, though, please subscribe as always. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Padres Digest. So Michael King, now a free agent. But do not panic. This does not mean that he's not going to resign with us. It just means he wants a different contract. And honestly, that's fair. If you remember correctly, Michael King's contract last year was super. Complicated, I guess, is the best way to say it. And it was more to help the Padres and their financial budgetary restrictions. But now we have new owners who have more money. So I'm sure Michael King just wants to profit. And you know what? Fair. It's time for the owners to prove their quote if they're all in or not. So let's just take a look at it. Let's take a look at everything, right? So, Michael King declines player option. It's free agency. Sucks, but it's baseball. It's business. Padres star Michael King, this is from John Hammond, who broke it, declined his player option today and will be a free agent, will be one of the most coveted players on the market. Padres could still negotiate a new deal with Michael, but there's likely going to be competition, a lot of competition. He's definitely going to be one of the strongest names in the market. And then. If it loads. There we go. King will arguably be the top free agent starting pitcher after Tariq Skubal. I don't know if that's true, but he's still really good, right? Still really good. So, Michael King leaves complicated $75 million deal. So, either will be worth $22 million for one year, or $45 million for two, or $75 million for three. So, let me show you. I forgot to bring it up. Give me a second. Let me show you the graphic layout of his contract. Let me show you how this contract breaks down. So signing bonus of $12 million, three payments of $4 million, plus $5 million guaranteed in 2026, plus a $28 million player option. But if he reclines it, he'll get a $5 million buyout, which is what he's getting. And then 2028 doesn't matter, no buyout, right? So what he could have earned... Opt-out after 2026, $22 million for one year, 12 plus 5 plus 5 million buyouts. So in total, he's going to make $22 million this year. And then this was his other contract, opt-out after 2027, $45 million, two years, so 12 plus 5 plus 28, and then the rest of the math, $75 million. So basically, if that sounds complicated, it's because it was, right? So it means he's taken the $5 million buyout and the $58 million in options turned down, so he is a free agent, but he made $22 million because of his opt-out this year. So probably expect to get... Or for him to cost more than $22 million. I could see him getting a lot bigger of a contract. But it's said best here. King's contract in San Diego is a stopgap. This was only for it to work out if, you know, because, again, we had financial problems last year. Or, I guess, this season. So this was to keep him in here. But since he did good this last year, he can obviously make a lot more. Right? So it makes sense. It makes sense. It's not, like, he's not, like, done with us. He doesn't hate us. It's just good business sense, right? So Michael King rebounds to build his market. He recorded a .64 ERA and three postseason appearances. So obviously when you pitch that good in the postseason, you're going to make a lot more money, right? So there's a lot of estimates going around. This one says his free agent market is five years, $150 million for $30 million a year, which is a lot more than $22 million. The next projection we have is three years, $85 million. Let me do the math on that. Calculator, calculator, please come out. I can't do math because I am stupid. Okay, so 85 divided by 3. That is $28 million a year. I'm sure you guys just yelled at me in the comments for not knowing that. So basically around $30 million is what it's going to cost to get Michael King back, which makes sense. Starting pitching market is beyond lucrative right now and will probably forever be. Maybe. Uh, And also, we'll talk about this in a sec, I guess, but also we gotta remember the lockout is gonna be on December 1st, so that'll probably change a lot of things for us, but again, we'll see, right? So, with this, Padres rotation is thin without Michael King. So, we're gonna need a lot of starters, right, if we can't re-sign Michael King. The Padres will be looking to bring in multiple starters this winter. And it will be a huge boost, bringing King back would be a huge boost to an uncertain 2027 rotation. Obviously, Giolito's gone, Pavetta can be gone, Michael King might be gone. Who else am I forgetting? Probably a lot of people that I don't have at the top of my head right now. Listen, I hope he is back in a Padres uniform, but the starting pitching market is deep enough for pivots need at least two quality arms. So there are other options out there, and I'm sure there'll be more options once teams start figuring out their financials. And even if the lockout forces teams to either release or restructure contracts, I don't know what's going to happen. But there is possibilities to pivot off of King. I know you guys have your King opinions, but... What this all means for the Padres, a lot. Time to find out what all-in means. When the owners came here, they said, we're all-in. What does all-in mean? Does that mean you're going to re-sign Michael King for $30 million a year? I don't know. I don't know. Right? And that also still means that Pavetta has an option, or we have a club option on Pavetta that expires, I think. We have to make that choice by November 1st. So, basically, the question is, Do you want Michael King back? Yes, he wasn't as good as 2024. Yes, he had some really good starts, really bad starts, some great stretches, some okay stretches. Was he the most dominant pitcher in the league last year? No. Is he still one of the better pitchers in the league? Probably top 15? I would say yes. Top 20 at least. Do you want to pay a top 20 pitcher $30 million a year? You might think $30 million might be reserved for the top pitchers in the league, but to be honest, starting pitching market is so lucrative, the top 30 pitchers in the league might be making around $25 or $30 million a year, plus more. That's how the starting pitching market is. So I did see somewhere, it's not confirmed, but in his original contract, He had a... Fine print, I guess, where the Padres will have five days to negotiate. But now that I'm thinking about it, I think most contracts for agent opportunities have five days. Hold on. Let me double check this. I might be talking stupid right now. Give me a sec. Okay yeah I'm stupid so either I read it wrong or I'm dumb which are both possible things but no they have five days after the World Series for team exclusive negotiations and after that five days is when the free agent market opens up. So we have five days to re-sign him until he goes out into the open market. So I wouldn't hate re-signing him. Uh, is there better pitchers out there? Obviously like three school ball would be much better, but he's going to cost probably like 45 million a year. So I guess it all depends on this Padres key dates. King declines $28 million option. Padres exclusive window ends on November 2nd. Oh, it did say that right there. What the heck? Oh, and Pavetta 14 million option is due November 2nd. So could he resign? Could he not resign? It's all up to us for Pavetta, and for King, it's all up to him. So, what do you guys think? What should the Padres do about King? Should they re-sign him, sign a different top starter, or add two mid-tier arms with the money it would cost to re-sign King? So, I don't know, $15 million for two different pitchers, $20 million for two different pitchers. You let me know how you feel. Personally, I want to re-sign him, but I wouldn't pay more than... I don't know if I'd pay more than $25, but it probably won't be enough to get them $25. So we'll have to see. We'll have to see what all-in means for the owners. But yeah, let me know what you guys think. Comment down below. Please subscribe, as always. Follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, Padres Digest. Thank you to our channel members. Show memberships for awesome bonus features. Have a fantastic, wonderful rest of your day. Baseball is over, but congrats to the Brewers, I guess. But now we're back to more exciting news until December, and then we'll see what happens there. But yeah, thank you for watching. Goodbye.