Marlins Surprisingly Cut Lefty Reliever With Strong Numbers
King's fall was sudden.
He was excellent for Miami before suffering an ankle injury last month, but has posted a brutal 10.24 ERA and 8.67 FIP with just three strikeouts across 9.2 innings since returning from it.
Still, he owns a 3.99 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, and a 33/17 K/BB ratio over 49.2 innings this season.
Why He Could Still Find A Home
Despite the rough recent stretch, King is a real candidate to be claimed by a team in need of a lefty relief option, considering his ground-ball rates, his stronger performance earlier this season, and his still-recent track record of success, a 2.85 ERA across 60 innings with the Cardinals in 2024.
King is playing on a $1.5 million salary this season, but only $280,700 of that remains to be paid, a minimal commitment for a team simply looking to add bullpen depth.
Season That Told Two Different Stories
King signed with Miami on a one-year, $1.5 million deal back in February after a middling 4.66 ERA campaign with St. Louis the year before. The hope was that a change of scenery could help him rediscover his 2024 form.
For a stretch, it worked. King carried an excellent 59.2 percent ground-ball rate into the year, exactly the kind of contact management that makes a reliever valuable even without big strikeout totals.
But the underlying warning signs were there even before the injury. He struggled to miss bats and had trouble keeping the ball in the park, watching his home-run rate climb from 0.75 per nine innings in 2024 to 1.49 per nine in 2025.
King's release came the same day another former Cardinals reliever from that same 2024-2025 window was also cut loose by a Florida-based club.
Whether a team is willing to bet on the pitcher who posted a 2.85 ERA in 2024 or is scared off by the ugly numbers since his ankle injury will likely determine whether King finds a new home before the week is out.
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