Red Sox Joining Growing Market For Padres’ Michael King: Insider

It sounds like the Boston Red Sox aren't done looking around in the starting pitcher market.

To sum up the offseason to this point, the Red Sox already have acquired two starting pitchers that could be included in the rotation in 2026 in Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo. Now, the Red Sox have a significant amount of rotation depth. The Red Sox have Garrett Crochet, Brayan Bello, Gray, Oviedo, Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval, Kyle Harrison, Hunter Dobbins, Tanner Houck, Connelly Early, and Payton Tolle.

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The Red Sox have been very busy already

That's a lot of pitching at Boston's disposal. Maybe enough to cut ties with some in a separate deal? That's a separate conversation. But it sounds like Boston is looking around at other options. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that the Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, and the New York Mets have interest in former San Diego Padres hurler Michael King.

"The Mets have interest in Michael King, but so do Detroit and Boston, among others," Sherman wrote.

King is a pitcher worth looking into, even with a handful of hurlers already with the organization. King is 30 years old and pitched to a 3.44 ERA and 76-to-26 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 73 1/3 innings pitched for San Diego. King was only able to make 15 starts due to a long thoracic nerve issue that affected his right shoulder strength.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow didn't shut down the idea of adding any sort of piece, as shared by MassLive.com's Chris Cotillo.

"Our priorities remain improving our 2026 roster. We have to be open-minded about the ways we can do that, and practical in the sense that we have some position player needs that we’ll want to focus on," Breslow said, as transcribed by Cotillo.

The reason why King is intriguing is his performance the season before. In 2024, King had a 2.95 ERA in 31 total appearances for San Diego after being one of the big pieces in the Padres-New York Yankees Juan Soto trade.

King mainly came out of the bullpen with New York and shined before the trade. Then, he took off in San Diego. King's current projected market value is just over $91 million across four seasons, per Spotrac. If Boston is going to add another hurler, this is the way to go. Boston has enough that it doesn't need to open up the checkbook for someone like Framber Valdez. King likely will be less expensive and arguably has similar upside.

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