Michael King Could Cash In on a Weak Free-Agent Class

I believe I saw that Michael King opted out of his $58 million remaining contract. He was a big reason the Padres were even in contention, that he kind of flew under the radar, but come the postseason, he was their best pitcher. He was the only guy they could actually rely upon. Did he make himself money, or is he crazy for giving up the $58 million here that he had on the table? No, he'll get $150,000, $200,000 this offseason. What? Oh, yeah. Wow. The thing that you've got. Yeah, the thing that you've got to remember is free agency in sports, and in particular in baseball, it's not really about how good you are. It's the class of free agents that you're in and when you become a free agent. And so King is entering a free agent class. That's awful. Like this is just one of the worst ones we've seen in probably 10 years. And there's nothing against King, but he may lead a class. And if you're trying to get better and he's the best option, then you're looking at five years, 150 million for, for Michael King. I mean, you are, this is what's going to be a number two in your rotation. I mean, is that what you would consider him? Yeah. I think so. I think that's fair. Yeah. And that's probably, well, that's got to be more than $58 million in two years, right? That's got to, do you have a solid number two? I'll give you a perfect example of when you meet free agency and you're not as good, maybe, as some, last year's actually a pretty good example. It was okay. It wasn't great. All you have to do is compare Michael King. If you said he's a two, he's certainly as good as Framber Valdez, right? That's fair to say. Certainly is good. How much money did Framber Valdez get from Detroit behind Schubble last year? Crap load of money, right? Framber Valdez. Good point. Yep. King is going to get at least that. That's a good point. And so then what are we, the likes of Casey Mize, who didn't, who went MIA. As soon as they traded him to the National League of the Padres, he went MIA. But it doesn't matter because... He's got the pedigree, I guess? No, I think Ray gets a multi-year deal. I think Mize, probably similar to Jazz, where he'll do one year and try to get himself a multi-year. I would think. I don't know. He's very young still, Mize, but I don't know that anyone's committing four years to Casey Mize. But again, it's such a weak free agent class that I got to stop myself for a minute and think, like, if he is the sixth best pitcher, In a season where he normally would be the 10th. I mean, he may end up getting more money than we think. We'll see.