The San Diego Padres have had an interesting offseason so far, and only two major moves have been made. Sung-mun Song was signed to a small three-year deal to play second base, and Michael King signed a huge $75 million deal to join the rotation.
While the Padres desperately needed starting pitching, and got it in King on a fairly reasonable deal from the outside looking in, there's a bit more to this three-year deal than meets the eye.
As ESPN analyst Bradford Doolittle points out, amid a C+ grade of the signing for the Padres, the "player-friendly" nature of this contract is what causes this deal to be viewed less favorably from the Padres' perspective.
Padres receive mediocre grade for Michael King deal thanks to 'player-friendly' contract terms
"The structure of the deal makes this very much a player-friendly pact," Doolittle writes, "and since we grade these things from the perspective of the team, it drags down the grade a bit."
The 30-year-old starter was given a $75 million deal over three seasons, but the player-friendly aspect of this new contract is a big difference between a higher grade and the C+ that Doolittle handed out to the Padres.
For the first season of this new contract, King will reportedly make $22 million. It's a respectable amount, but not too outlandish for the Padres to spend on King for one season.
The issue comes up after that. King then has two opt-outs, one after the 2026 season and another after the 2027 season, which could allow the starter to hit free agency.
There's only one scenario where he hits the open market again: if he has a strong 2026 season and believes he can land a new, long-term extension.
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San Diego might wind up losing King after just one season if the right-hander plays well. But if he struggles, then King will opt in and be on the Padres' books for a strong total in 2027. If he struggles again, then he could opt in one more time to further complicate things.
If King decides to opt in for the final two seasons of this deal, then he will get an average of $26.5 million over the 2027 and 2028 seasons. For a starter who, if he opts in, would be struggling, that's a tough contract to deal with.
The Padres might need to find a trade for King if he struggles in 2026 and 2027, but his struggles and lofty contract would make things even more troublesome going into the future.
King's $75 million contract is a very player-friendly one, and while that was how the Padres were able to bring King back, it could hurt them in a big way down the road. That's why, despite the signing being a good one, the Padres received just a C+ grade from Doolittle.
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