Why the Red Sox Shouldn't Sign Michael King

[Alex Mayes]

Free-agent starter Michael King seems to have narrowed down his preferred teams to three AL East options. The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham has noted that King may have limited his finalists to the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Baltimore Orioles. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo has gone a step further and said that King has a ‘strong interest’ in being in Boston since he went to Boston College and is from Rhode Island. King wanting to come back for at least part of the back-half of his career makes sense — he’d be playing somewhere he’s incredibly comfortable.

On the surface, King may not look like a perfect fit for the Red Sox since they have traded for both Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo in recent weeks, but we all know that Craig Breslow always keeps an eye on the pitching market and strives to build a deep pool of pitchers to pull from. Signing King won’t be cheap; ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel predicts the starter will land a three-year, $57 million contract. DiamondCentric, meanwhile, foresees a very similar four-year, $75 million deal. Those are both around $19 million annually and would push the Red Sox up against the CBT tax threshold.

We don’t have to go back very far to start to see why King’s injury history could complicate things if he signs with the Red Sox. In 2025 along, he missed 89 games due to inflammation in his right shoulder and left knee. Before that, he missed 57 games with a finger injury in 2021 and 77 combined regular season and playoff games in 2022 due to an elbow fracture that required surgery to repair. You could reasonably say he is constantly flirting with the ‘injury-prone’ tag that every player hopes to avoid. Elbow fractures are freak injuries, but the rest of them are concerning for a pitcher that you’re hoping can take the ball every five days and be successful.

On top of his injury history, King isn’t the style of pitcher that Breslow seems to like. He’s not a mountain of a human being and he doesn’t have a ton of extension in his delivery, ranking in the 14th percentile on Baseball Savant. On top of that, he’s a sinker-ball pitcher that doesn’t induce many ground balls. In 2025, he left his sinker up far more than he should have, and it was easier for opposing hitters to knock it around. Admittedly, we’re working with a fairly small sample size, but it should be enough to give Breslow pause for concern.

For a guy whose primary fastball is a sinker, a 34th-percentile ground-ball rate is not a figure worth investing into.

If King is healthy, and that’s a big if, he has the potential to be a legitimate frontline starter for the Red Sox. That being said, though, he’s arguably not worth the injury risk that comes attached to him. If he were willing to take a one-year, prove-it contract, then interest should be abundant.

Insofar as that's unreasonable to ask and he’s wanting multiple years and around $19 million annually, that money would be better spent invested on the offensive side of the ball. The Red Sox have a ton of pitching depth, with top names primed to build on their 2025 seasons. King would offer another veteran presence in a young clubhouse, but he shouldn’t come at the expense of neglecting the most pressing need at the moment: power bats. If King remains a free agent until close to the start of spring training, then the Red Sox should swoop in and try to get him for a bit of hometown discount. If that doesn’t happen, there’s no reason to overextend themselves for a starter that may not leap Gray on the depth chart.

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[mvp 78]

Having a QO attached to him kills his market. It would be silly to sign him short term and give up a 2nd and 5th rounder for him. 

[TedYazPapiMookie]

He signed so mistake avoided.  Silly suggestion in the first place.  Breslow must stick to a value/cost ratio that is positive to work within ownerships guidelines.  This guy wasn't even close.  Adrian Houser makes more sense.  Houser will cost less than $25Million per year and is just as good at pitching.