The Chicago Cubs’ season is over after being swept by the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card series.
With this, the Cubs are now entering an important offseason. It is clear that they need to strengthen their roster during the offseason. One specific area they should upgrade during the winter is their pitching rotation.
Because of this, the Cubs are being linked to one of this year’s top pending unrestricted free agent pitchers.
In a recent article for FanSided, Christopher Kline named the Cubs among the top potential free agency landing spots for Padres pitcher Michael King this offseason.
“Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes, Chicago’s emergency deadline rentals, are also halfway out the door. There’s uncertainty around how exactly the likes of Steele and Horton will perform coming off of major elbow surgeries, too. So the Cubs should play it safe and hyper-focus on pitching depth,” Kline wrote. “Stability” is a word that comes to mind with King, and that’s exactly what the Cubs need right now.”
With the Cubs desperately needing pitching help, it makes sense that they are being linked to King. It would make all the sense in the world for them to make a serious push for him in free agency this offseason.
Taking a Look at King
King was once again very good for the Padres during this regular season. In 32 appearances for San Diego this campaign, he posted a 12-10 record, a 3.21 ERA, and 159 strikeouts. This was the sixth straight season that King had an ERA under 3.60. With that, he has been very effective for a while now.
With numbers like these, the Cubs would be incredibly wise to pursue King this offseason. He could slot perfectly into the front half of their rotation if signed. With that, he would be a very good pitcher for Chicago to bring in to bolster their rotation.
Cubs Are Going to Have Plenty of Competition in the King Sweepstakes
With King being one of this year’s top pending UFAs, it is apparent that he will have a lot of suitors. Due to this, Chicago is going to have plenty of competition if they elect to pursue him.
King is exactly the kind of pitcher that MLB teams love to target during the offseason. He is very effective and is only continuing to shine as his career carries on. Due to this, Chicago should be among the teams looking to land him this offseason.
Nevertheless, it will be intriguing to see if the Cubs can successfully sign King this offseason. The fit looks excellent on paper, given Chicago’s starting pitching woes.
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