Perhaps the best way to lead off this discourse is to say Here we go again.

The San Diego Padres starter Michael King has declined his player option, per MLB insider Jon Heyman.

Once again, the door has opened to label him a fit for the Atlanta Braves to add to their starting rotation. Stop me if you've heard this idea before.

You have? Makes sense.

This is the third consecutive offseason that this discussion gets to happen. It’s by no means a new take that King would help this team. It’s actually one of the oldest takes at this point. It's been a potential trade as well as a potential free-agent move.

I’m old enough to remember when Dylan Cease was part of the conversation, too. 

With that being said, there’s at least a reason King keeps coming back up. His 2026 season will only fortify the reasoning. He did two things that no Braves starting pitcher can claim last season. He made 32 starts and clocked over 180 innings pitched. 

He posted a 3.21 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP despite only posting 156 strikeouts in that time. He achieved this by reducing hard contact (just 32.7%, according to Baseball Savant) and having a solid groundball rate (45.1%, also according to Baseball Savant). 

A rather even mix between a sinker, changeup, fastball and sweeper made him effective. The first of these four pitches listed was the only one that had a slugging percentage of .400 or higher during the 2026 season. 

So, yes, the obvious conclusion is that King is a good fit for the Braves. 

Here is where the reality check comes in. You can scream that he’s a fit until you’re red in the face, but they actually have to sign a starting pitcher. It’s not a Michael King issue. It’s starting pitching in general. 

After the last two offseasons, you have no choice but to conclude that you’ll believe it when you see it. 

Feel free to keep monitoring his free-agent status. You only have a month before a lockout to get the usual fun of the offseason. Maybe the Braves make a move before everything freezes. Maybe they decide they have to wait and see how the landscape looks after the dust settles. 

That won’t change the need for starting pitching, but it will impact how the Braves can go about getting it. 

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