Juan Soto trade continues to pay off for Padres as Michael King shuts down Pirates

Ever since the San Diego Padres traded Juan Soto to the Yankees last offseason, Pads fans have had to suffer through the fact that he is still very good at baseball. Tuesday night was a classic example of one of those games that will make you wince as Soto connected for three homers and was basically a one-man wrecking crew against the hapless White Sox.

However, this wasn't a trade that left the Padres holding a bag of regret while wondering what might have been. San Diego did get real value back in the move and one of the biggest reasons why they probably don't regret how things happened is the play of Michael King.

King has certainly had his ups and downs with the Padres in 2024. After King's latest performance against the Pirates, it might actually be becoming more true that San Diego is a better team for sending Soto out of town.

Michael King's latest Padres gem gives hope that Juan Soto trade worked out

You won't find any Soto slander here. The man is one of the best hitters in all of baseball and there is a very good reason why he is going to end up being one of the highest-paid players in baseball when he signs his next contract during the offseason. If Soto doesn't win an MVP award in the next few years, it will be a surprise. He is just that good.

However, King's emergence of late highlights why the Padres made the move in the first place. Against Pittsburgh on Tuesday, King threw six shutout innings while striking out 10 batters and walking zero. In his last seven starts, he has posted a 1.94 ERA and 2.03 FIP. More importantly, he has also only walked nine batters over that span, which is a marked improvement over earlier in the season when King was absolutely plagued by free passes.

In the wake of Peter Seidler's death, Soto was going to leave in free agency anyway (though Seidler did reportedly express he would do all he could to retain the superstar slugger). That is just the truth. Instead of holding on to Soto and hoping that he could push the Padres to the postseason himself, moving him allowed San Diego to add longer-term pieces like King while freeing up their payroll to make multiple additions like Dylan Cease and their numerous bullpen moves at the deadline. Sometimes, a trade works out for both sides and that seems to be the case here.

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