Yankees Potential Free Agent Target: Michael King

In a vacuum, ignoring injury, the Yankees’ starting rotation for 2026 looks outstanding. Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Cam Schlittler, Luis Gil, and Will Warren all return, and the Yanks just recently re-signed Ryan Yarbrough. That’s six legitimate starting pitchers and a guy who was pretty successful as a spot starter/swingman for New York last season. And I didn’t even mention Clarke Schmidt, as he may not pitch at all in 2026.

Unfortunately, Cole and Rodón will both start the season on the IL, unlikely to debut for a couple of months (especially Cole), and it’s not as though the youngsters are foolproof either. Perhaps there is a need for more starting pitching after all. And wouldn’t you know it? An old friend just declined his mutual option and qualifying offer, allowing him to hit free agency, albeit after an injury-plagued season of his own.

Michael King auditioned as a starting pitcher in the big leagues for the Yankees at the end of the 2023 campaign after mostly pitching out of the bullpen since his Yankee debut in 2019. The results were magnificent. Good enough, in fact, that the San Diego Padres insisted on including him in the mega-trade that brought Trent Grisham to the Bronx… oh, and that Soto fella, who’s pretty darn good.

King was outstanding for San Diego in 2024, pitching to a 2.95 ERA over 173.1 innings, whiffing 201 opposing hitters and earning down-ballot Cy Young votes. And when he was healthy in 2025, it was much of the same. Alas, therein lies the rub for King. A nerve injury in his throwing shoulder and then knee inflammation during his rehab combined to cost King roughly half the season.

In the absence of those injuries, I am probably not even writing about a possible reunion with King as I’m personally highly skeptical the Yankees will add another notable contract to the starting rotation, along with Cole, Fried, and Rodón. But here we are.

King’s final line from last season, a 3.44 ERA over 15 starts (73.1 IP), with better than a strikeout per inning looks pretty good. It looks even better if you pretend he never got dog-walked by the Mets in mid-September. Erase the eight earned runs over three innings from that game off his ledger and the resulting season 2.56 ERA pops.

Looking under the hood, the biggest red flag from last season for King was his four-seam fastball. Never overpowering, it sat around 93.7 mph in 2025, and when he threw it, opposing hitters did not miss it. King threw the heater more than any pitch except his sinker. And opponents demolished it to the tune of a .349 average with an .814 slugging percentage. Worryingly, it doesn’t seem like much bad luck was involved, as there was little variation between the pitch’s wOBA (.525) and its expected wOBA (.511). It was just an eminently hittable offering, apparently.

King also gave up more fly balls than ever and recorded fewer ground ball outs. To be fair, that is a continuation of a trend since 2021, and neither the fly ball nor ground ball rates spiked alarmingly.

With those issues acknowledged, there are a lot of good reasons to explore bringing King back to the boogie down Bronx. To begin, he showed (albeit in limited action) he can be successful as a starting pitcher in New York. In his eight starts down the stretch in 2023, he boasted a sparkling 1.88 ERA with 48 strikeouts in 38.1 IP. As mentioned above, he built on that upon his move to San Diego, putting together an excellent 2024 and pitching very well in 2025 when healthy.

The second is that due to last season’s injury and King’s age (he’ll turn 31 in late May), it’s unlikely the Yankees would have to break the bank to bring him back. I’m not in the business of predicting contract. But outlets like ESPN and The Athletic have King pegged for a deal in the three or four year range, with total value varying between around $60-80 million, possibly with opt-outs built in after each season that would allow King to re-explore free agency if he’s at the peak of his powers.

Brendan Kuty at The Athletic recently noted that if the bidding for Japanese starter Tatsuya Imai gets too rich for the Yankees’ blood, King’s relative affordability could make him a quick pivot. Moreover, the Yankees have already been in touch with King’s agent.

The Yankees won’t be the only bidders if they decide to go after King, something Jim Bowden reported in mid-November is a real possibility. The Cubs in particular seem to be linked to King almost daily. The presence of multiple suitors could well drive the commitment in years and/or dollars beyond what the Yanks are willing to pay.

Should the Yankees sign King, they’d enter the 2026 season with Fried, King, Schlittler, Gil, and Warren likely comprising the rotation. Cole and Rodón, as mentioned above, wait in the wings, recovering from their respective injuries. That’s a pretty good looking rotation, even without its IL’d stars.

From a personal standpoint, I will shed zero tears if the Yankees put King back in pinstripes. He was a high point in what ended up being a lost 2023 season. I was sad to see him leave in the Soto blockbuster and thrilled to see him succeed as a starter in the big leagues. I’d be even happier to see him do that in the Bronx. We’ll see if that is the outcome or if King ends up plying his trade elsewhere in 2026 and beyond.