Michael King is owed a major payday by the San Diego Padres, but there's an out in his contract that would void the three-year, $75 million deal.

Each player has a ton of reasons as to why they would want to opt out of a deal, and while the Padres did indeed make the playoffs, that doesn't mean King is going to want to stick around for his last two years.

The San Francisco Giants are lurking, and moving to a division rival may not have been on his bingo card coming into the 2026 season, but a 2027 opt-out could make that a real possibility.

If King does indeed opt out like San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser suggests, he wouldn't see the $32 million that was set to come his way in 2027, or the $34 million in 2028.

Looking at those numbers, it's clear it wouldn't be cheap to bring in the 31-year-old pitcher, but he had the 16th-best ERA in all of baseball this season, and that's something the Giants simply can't ignore.

King finished the 2026 season with a 12-10 record, and he went 1-0 in the playoffs with that win coming in an impressive scoreless seven-inning start in the Wild Card round.

President of baseball operations Buster Posey's plan for the offseason is going to be quite telling. Does he believe this team has what it takes to make the playoffs, or is he going to waste another year or so with some of these massive contracts in the organization?

San Francisco was quite busy at this year's trade deadline, and it was one that saw them move on from Robbie Ray.

King is a proven winner, as seen with him winning five of six starts from Aug. 31 to Sept. 29.

The Giants know they need to add arms to the top of their rotation, and bringing in King would do exactly that.

A good chunk of their free agency spending would have to go to the right-handed pitcher, but someone like King doesn't become available often.

His career 3.23 ERA and 1.19 WHIP are incredible, and he's coming off a career-best 4.3 WAR season.

On Sept. 12, King threw seven innings of three-run baseball against the Giants. He didn't issue a single walk in a 96-pitch start that saw him improve to 11-9 on the year.

Giants fans can't get their hopes up, but Slusser sees a world where King opts out and then San Francisco could at least try to get in on the sweepstakes.