The Padres announced that right-hander Michael King has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to left knee inflammation, retroactive to August 11th. Right-hander Randy Vásquez has been recalled in the corresponding move.
The Friars haven’t yet provided any information about King’s injury or how long they expect him to be out of action. His IL placement is a notable development regardless. The Padres just passed the Dodgers to take a one-game lead in the National League West. The two clubs open a three-game series against each other in Los Angeles tomorrow with the division lead on the line. King was scheduled to take the ball in the first game but that will no longer be the case. Perhaps Vásquez will take the ball instead. Dylan Cease, scheduled to start Saturday, could start Friday instead and still be on regular rest.
For King, it continues what has already been an injury-marred season. He landed on the IL in late May due to shoulder inflammation. That injury once seemed fairly innocuous, as King woke up feeling some discomfort after sleeping on his shoulder awkwardly. It was later revealed that he was battling an issue with his thoracic nerve. It took him over two months to return to the big league club.
Once he was healthy enough to get back on the mound, his return to the majors was swift. He made just one rehab start, which was on August 3rd. He tossed 61 pitches over 3 1/3 innings for Triple-A El Paso, allowing six earned runs. The Padres nonetheless activated him from the IL to start Saturday’s big league game. It took him 57 pitches to get through two innings against the Red Sox, allowing two earned runs in the process.
Evidently, some knee inflammation popped up between that start and today. There’s nothing to indicate King is in for an extended absence but it’s still not a great development for the club. King had a tremendous breakout with San Diego last year. He tossed 173 2/3 innings with a 2.95 earned run average, 27.7% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate. His rate stats were fairly similar this year before landing on the IL.
Ideally, the Padres would have that kind of production in their rotation, not only in the regular season but also in the playoffs. Perhaps King can get back on track in a few weeks but this is surely a setback they didn’t want.
They now go into the next few weeks with a rotation consisting of Cease, Yu Darvish, Nestor Cortes, Nick Pivetta and perhaps Vásquez. Guys like JP Sears, Matt Waldron and Kyle Hart are on optional assignment. Pivetta’s having a great year but Cease has a 4.86 ERA over his past ten starts. Darvish and Cortes have both been on the IL for most of the season. Having King back to his 2024 self would have made the group much stronger but he’s back on the shelf. Tomorrow’s game in Los Angeles is the first of 13 in a row without an off-day.
It’s also not a good development for King personally, as he’s an impending free agent. After his tremendous 2024 campaign and in the early parts of this year, he was trending towards being one of the top free agent starters of the 2025-26 offseason, with a good shot at a nine-figure deal. His monthslong summer absence put a cloud of uncertainty around him and put a big dent in his earning power.
Getting back to the majors could have been the first step towards putting him back on track. Almost two months of solid regular season work followed by a few good postseason starts could have erased the memory of that shoulder injury. That could still happen to some degree, but the window is now narrower.
Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images
Did he sleep funny on his knee?
That’s a real knee slapper.
Perhaps someone told him a knee slapper and he got injured that way…
The Yankees wanted to keep King but went ahead and let him go in the Soto trade because of his proclivity for injury.
Cue grandpa Simpson meme
They still will win the division over the overrated dodgers
He just missed 3 months
Came back for 2 innings
Back on DL
This is gonna hurt his free agency
Dodgers will be all over this guy come winter….
@Jerry Hairston Jr.’s Toupee, as with all ridiculous Dodger FA predictions made in the last 2 years, I’ll bookmark this and get back with you on it.
No, it won’t hurt his free agency at all. There are plenty of teams that like to bid on injured players.
Lil bit of karma for the padres fans for always gloating on Dodgers injuries
I don’t think you know what karma is.
Plenty of season left, rest up King
Next man up, you got this Pads. It would be so boring if everything ran so smoothly.
He just came off the IL after a long stint…
King would have dominated the choking Dodgers this weekend.
“King would have dominated”..Tom Brady’s ex, Giselle Bundchen, would also have “dominated” the Dodgers this weekend, the way they’re currently playing.
then come back on 1 days rest and do it again pitching underhand.
I thought you people were adamant that the Dodgers were going 162-0?
Reactionaries…
Loading up on pitching depth at the deadline looks better all the time.
AJ Preller > Jed Hoyer. By worlds.
“Loading up on pitching”…I’ve been an extremely harsh critic of A.J Prellar the last several years, but have recently(last yr) come around. AJ is completely fearless in making deals and obviously has the complete trust and support of ownership.
Someone(likely A.J)is doing some pretty amazing drafting, allowing Prellar to put together high-end, accepted trade packages seemingly every year. I’ve finally recognized the top level front office executive that is A.J Prellar.
Same.
I might be inclined to agree if or when they win a championship. Until then, he’s just a guy who likes to make changes often. He’s creating a competitive ball club annually, but so are the Rays, Guardians and Brewers, without all the commotion, and at a much lower cost to ownership. It’s fun to witness though, so I’ll give him that!
@kripes-brewers
Except fans show up when the Pads are playing well. You can call it commotion/hype with the help of the media but it’s marketing and they’re not a boring team.
As for pitching depth, another injury to SP and we might regret the Bergert + Kolek for Fermin trade even though the Ferminator has been great.
On the flip side they signed Sears and Cortes, and Cortes anyway has looked solid
I had sticker shock when I saw the price tag was Bergert and Kolek. That said, catchers with any offensive upside (like 80 OPS+ and up) are always at a premium.
Hoping that King is fine and can come back for good following this latest IL stint.
At least Sears and Cortes were acquired as insurance.
Big red flag for his free agency bid that he can’t stay healthy this year. Buyer beware.
This is the sound of $100 million being flushed down the toilet.
I appreciate the innings he ate this year, but IDK how Vasquez gets the start over Sears. Neither are great options, but at least Sears can command the zone.
suhg
“IDK how Vasquez gets the start over Sears”
Almost certainly because Sears pitched on Tuesday.
Good catch, but with an off-day yesterday, they could easily move up Cease and Darvish before Sears would throw on Sunday.
Don’t move up a guy like Yu that’s coming off injury himself.
Don’t move up Cease who has finally found his arm slot after struggling.
It’d be 5 days’ rest for both.
I haven’t yet heard that Vasquez gets the start tomorrow. Could be a bullpen game with Vasquez involved.
I don’t like the idea of a bullpen game opening a series. Vasquez is bad. I don’t think Sears is world better, but I’d feel better with him starting.
I would prefer Sears but he pitched 2 days ago
vasquez is far from bad !
He might have the worst underlying peripherals of any MLB starter.
Vasquez gets the job done. His ERA shows that clearly. Sears does not. His ERA shows that clearly. Plus Sears started for El Paso on Tuesday.
Side note, Sears eliminated 2 pitches out of his 6 pitch repertoire in that game on Tuesday and only walked 1 in 5 IP. He gave up a 2 run homer to the next batter after that walk, so some things didn’t change, but he cut down on how many different pitches he through and it made a difference in his command on the ones he did throw. 4-seam, sinker, sweeper, and curveball. No changeups or cutter/sliders.
A pitchers job is to prevent runs. Vasquez has done that better than Sears.
His job is not peripherals. His job is results.
Padres fans can live with one loss every five games, come on, that’s like .800 baseball the rest of the way!!! You guys will be OK!!!
What do you guys think of stretching Morejon out as a starter for next season? I know he started out as a starter (I guess they all do) but found more consistency in the pen. But now that he’s got it figured out, maybe they can refurbish him back as a starter for 2026.
Padees are 14-8 in Vasquez’s 22 starts… .637 winning percentage.
Treating him like Cortez with a completely fresh BP. Let him go thru 2 times and turn to BP.
He has given the occasional longer start but is reliable for 2 turns and then either gets cocky or figured out or something mental must happen.
Shildt has shown an unwillingness to let a SP cost him a game with this BP.
Def want King back but if only a short stint and not arm related using RV for 2 starts won’t end the season prematurely.
Good points. I suppose nothing is stopping them from recalling Sears for the next start if Vasquez bombs.
The schedule does.
And I doubt King would have gone more than 4 innings anyway
He’s not starting out games dominating the other team and then gets bored and tries something new. He puts guys on, gets soft contact, survives, and then if the other team gets a third look at him, bang. Nothing to do with getting cocky or mental weakness.
Billy – my words were merely suggestive as possibly reasons for known outcomes.
You of course are free to disagree or offer other suggestions.
For what it’s worth Don and Mudd talk about it almost every start about his mental game.
It’s always funny how someone like you comes back with definitive statements that something is or isn’t or can’t be or must be when you are in no position to have any idea.
It’s like the idea of not saying “I’ll never… or “I always …”
You gave two reasons for his later-inning struggles based on his mental fortitude with zero evidence..
EVERY pitcher gets easier to hit the more the hitters see them. For a guy already walking the tightrope without premium stuff, it’s even more likely. But sure, it’s because he thinks “I am a golden god of pitching” or his concentration lags due to mental weakness.
Yet a former MLB pitcher (Mark Grant) speaks of this very thing as a potential source of the problem each and every start.
Hmmm – a former mlb pitcher or you?
I remain in the “it’s a possibility” mindset and not saying it is or isn’t definitively the problem.
You go with “I know” if it makes you feel good.
He’s a color commentator. By breed, they try to make stories about character. It’s why they say things like “He really bore down there” or “he choked” instead of “baseball is hard and it didn’t go his way.”
Randy Vasquez has mediocre stuff and crappy command. That’s why he falls apart the third time through the order.
You go with “psychoanalyzing players by watching them on tv.” if it makes you feel clever. A hint: You are not.
A pretty good ball player once said, “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical”.
You are right though, no mental fortitude required to be a mlb pitcher.
Padres and AJ Preller should have kept either Bergert or Kolek and substituted another pitching prospect (Cruz or Mayfield) in the Fermin deal.
Can’t believe they have up 2 of their best “depth starters” in that deal.
Have you seen anywhere that KC would have accepted a pitching prospect in lieu of Bergert or Kolek?
Yeah, they gave up a solid young catcher with 4 years of control. Preller couldn’t dictate terms.
Randy Vasquez has done a good job for them in the rotation.
Start Cease tonight.
Then, slot Vasquez in their for his spot in the rotation.
As awesome as the bullpen is, a healthy king is an absolute must for the playoffs
Hopefully King is healthy well before the playoffs
Wouldn’t any team want as many above average pitchers as possible like King in the playoffs?
Status update please on JOE KING.
he wasnt ready. Gimme Randy
Was looking at that terrible Padres trade for Soto, again.
If Padres had not made that ridiculous one sided trade for Soto who did not hit well for awhile in SD then started hitting in his 2nd year w/team.
Someone should have taken Preller’s cell phone and thrown it in the SD Bay when he began thinking/talking about this disastrous deal.
Without that completely crazy Soto deal, the Padres team would have included right now:
LHSP McKenzie Gore
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
CF Robert Hassell II who just had a breakout year @AAA and also
played some on the Nats team (including spectacular defense)
RP Jarlin Susanna (age 21 in Minors has hit 1-3 mph on radar gun)
Preller pushed all in to try and win a WS while Peter Siedler was still alive.
Had Tatis not gotten himself suspended maybe it would have worked.
They attempted a World Series run which can’t be said for many teams. So did the Yankees by trading for Soto. And that’s how the story goes.
It wasn’t a trade for Soto. It was a trade for Soto and Bell.
As of today the Padres are up by 44 WAR in that trade plus trading Soto away. The Padres have an NLCS and NLDS appearances since then and appear headed to the playoffs this season as well.
Preller would make that trade again and rightfully so.
4.4 WAR, not 44
Just stop already.
During his start against the Sox Lou Merloni commented on King seemingly rushing himself back after only one rehab start. Could be he suffered the knee injury compensating for the shoulder
Some Prednisone should suffice
Looking forward to some dodgers v padres this weekend. Dodgers monopolised the top of the market, Padres shopped at the bottom. Yet here we are. It’s a remarkable thing.
Sport is good.
You could take 30 seconds to Google the Padres core is also 1 billion + in contracts
Don’t have to google. I’m aware. It was a comparison about this last offseasons spending pattern. Too complex for you or just overly sensitive ?
Would you like me to do an overall roster comparison ? Would that make you feel better ?