Could This Padres Ace Follow Aaron Judge’s Lead Back to the Yankees?

"He goes out there, and he's just playing, wanting everybody around him to be as good as they possibly can and wanting to win baseball games instead of forcing that pressure on himself and having to put up numbers to get more than the extension that was offered to him. It just came naturally to him," King said on Corey Kluber's podcast last year.

Now it's King entering his walk year with a little Judge-style perspective. One of baseball's top starters in 2025, the Padres right-hander is 4-1 with a 2.09 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 38.2 innings. The Athletic's Jim Bowden projects King could land a deal worth $182 million this winter.

King pitched for the Yankees from 2019 to 2023, posting a 3.38 ERA across 247.2 innings. He made 19 starts but was mainly a reliever or spot starter before being traded to San Diego in the Juan Soto deal. In 2024, he broke out—13-9, 2.95 ERA, 201 strikeouts—and finished seventh in NL Cy Young voting.

The Yankees had a chance to extend him before that trade. They passed. Now, they may be eyeing a very different kind of negotiation.

Asked about a potential return to the Bronx, King told the YES Network: "Of course, once you get to free agency, that's what I'll start thinking about. I've got to focus on winning today... hopefully by the end of it I can have all 30 teams calling me."

For now, King is focused on the present. But come winter, the Yankees could find themselves vying for his services once again.