King declares himself '100%' after three-inning sim game

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres’ rotation is going to look different in August. How different? That’s TBD -- check back after the Trade Deadline on Thursday.

But there’s at least one major addition on the way: Michael King.

The veteran right-hander pitched a simulated game at Petco Park on Monday afternoon, throwing three innings and 40 pitches. He continues to target early to mid-August for a potential return, which could line him up for a rehab start in the next week or so.

King hasn’t pitched since mid-May as he dealt with an injury to his long thoracic nerve, which affected the strength of his right shoulder muscles. Once that nerve began firing in late June, it has been a relatively steady progression for King, who said he has been pain-free throughout his buildup.

“Michael King comes back?” said Padres manager Mike Shildt. "Whether we add and what we add … it’s going to be hard to expect anything better than Michael King.”

• Buy and sell? Why Padres might trade Cease

Ahh, the player returning from injury being better than any trade. It’s a baseball cliché as old as the Deadline itself. It’s also -- in this case, at least -- true.

The Padres could very well reshuffle their rotation this week. Dylan Cease is on the trade block. (Like King, he can become a free agent after the season.) If the Padres were to deal Cease, they might also look to add a controllable starter to the rotation mix. There are further question marks around Yu Darvish had his next start bumped back by a day.

But King was the Padres’ Opening Day starter, and he posted a 2.59 ERA across 10 starts this season prior to his injury. It is genuinely difficult to imagine a more impactful move the Padres could make than adding a fully healthy King to their roster. And according to the man himself, that’s precisely what he is right now.

“I’m 100%,” King said. “... I haven’t had any real pain. It’s just that obviously the muscle just wasn’t firing. So now that it’s going, it’s really just trying to get my feet under me and make sure I’m progressing as fast as possible.”

King’s fastball sat 91-94 mph, slightly below his usual velocity, but not by much. He mixed in all of his pitches. He struck out five and allowed only two hits, both by Trenton Brooks (a home run and a single up the middle).

“Looked like Michael,” Shildt said. “Don’t want to get too far down the road. But we are getting down the road, and the end of the road is back pitching for the Padres. Clearly, that would be a huge boost for the club.”

In the meantime, the Padres have found a way to make it work in their rotation, even without King and Darvish for large stretches of the season. Darvish was roughed up last week in St. Louis, his fourth start since returning from right elbow inflammation. He insists he’s feeling fine.

The Padres are taking no chances. They’re going to bump his turn in the rotation back by at least one day, giving him extra time to recover. Darvish threw a bullpen session on Monday, which lined him up for a Wednesday start.

That left the Padres with a vacancy in their rotation. Rookie right-hander Ryan Bergert joined the club on the taxi squad on Monday and will start on Tuesday.

Bergert is one of a trio of young starters who have helped stabilize the San Diego rotation this season, despite the injuries to Darvish and King. He, Randy Vásquez and Stephen Kolek have made 40 starts this season and have combined to post a 3.73 ERA.

All three are presently with the big league club, though one or two of them will presumably give way when the Padres revert to a five-man rotation and/or when King returns. Then again, the complexion of the entire rotation might look different by then.

But if a healthy Michael King is a part of it, the Padres like their chances.