The starting rotation is a pretty sore subject for New York Yankees fans right about now, with Gerrit Cole out for the year and Luis Gil sidelined until the summer and back-end options like Will Warren and the recently-DFA'd Carlos Carrasco not panning out. So this is probably the worst possible time for the one that got away to come rolling back into town with his red-hot new team, looking to show New York what it's missing.
Of course, from Michael King's perspective, that's probably the best possible time. King has only ever said positive things about the Yankees, the team with whom he spent the first five years of his MLB career. But he also hasn't hidden his displeasure at the fact that, for most of those five years, he was stuck in the bullpen — despite insisting to manager Aaron Boone that he wanted a chance as a starter.
“The only way you guys got Soto is because I was built up as a starter.”
— Slab Lab (@slablabshow) April 23, 2025
Michael King’s story on convincing Aaron Boone to put him in the Yankees rotation 😅 pic.twitter.com/LuZreF2p4v
King allegedly came to Boone ahead of the 2023 season, arguing that his success as a multi-inning reliever proved that he could turn lineups over and stick in the rotation. But Boone wasn't having it, telling his righty that he was "too valuable" in his current role to move him to a new one.
Eventually, though, injuries forced Boone's hand — and proved King right. With the Yankees rotation running on fumes in the dog days of summer, New York finally gave King his first true start in late August. He immediately showed the team what it had been missing: King posted a 1.88 ERA in eight starts down the stretch, striking out 48 batters in 38.1 innings.
It looked like King had finally, at long last, proven himself ... until a few weeks later, when he was shipped to the San Diego Padres as part of the return for Juan Soto. A lot has changed since then: Soto is now a member of the New York Mets, while King has continued to blossom as a starter, finishing in the top-10 in NL CY Young voting last season and helping the Friars out to a 23-11 start in 2025. And now the baseball gods have conspired to bring him back to the Bronx in an opposing uniform, with a perfect opportunity to get a little revenge on the team that held him back.
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Michael King has a chance for all-time revenge game in return to Yankee Stadium
King is set to get the ball on Tuesday night, looking to guide San Diego to a second straight win over the Yankees after a dramatic eighth-inning rally on Monday. He's also looking to get some closure: King has already proven several times over that he has what it takes to excel as a starter in the Majors, but it has to be pretty sweet to be able to make that case directly to the team that tried to do whatever it could to keep him in the bullpen.
And with the way this Yankees offense has struggled in recent days, a sterling performance seems pretty likely. The same things that made King such a weapon out of the bullpen have translated to the rotation, from his wicked four-pitch mix to his impeccable command. He's, in short, exactly the sort of pitcher the Yankees wish they could have right now. And while no one could blame them for doing whatever it took to get Soto, that doesn't make their current predicament sting any less.
But hey, maybe they could always just try and sign King in free agency in a few months.