Michael King

And so even hearing from other teams in free agency, you have to decide on do I want to risk going to this place that I've never been before or come back to what's familiar, a very winning culture,

We're changing coaching staff to make it an even better team than it was the year before.

And so I think that the trust that I had in this organization was ultimately the reason for that.

But I think that every player that gets to free agency, if they want to, they deserve the right to test it out.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, Ruben means a lot to me.

It's awkward saying it in front of his face, because that's just how guys are.

But, I mean, yeah, when I first got traded two years ago, I think we had a two-hour phone call before,

I talked to AJ briefly, and then Ruben talked to me for two hours that we broke down everything, whether that was the construction of the roster, my transition to being a starter, pitch package, everything.

And I felt like the relationship started then.

We've obviously butt heads a few times, but ultimately I know he has my best interest at heart.

He has the team's best interest at heart.

And every day he shows up ready to make me a better pitcher, and I couldn't thank him enough for that.

Absolutely, yeah.

Obviously, injuries stink.

I was not happy with my lack of being able to do it.

I wanted to be, they trusted me to be the opening day starter.

Opening day starters go 200 innings, you know?

And unfortunately, I wasn't able to do that.

And unfortunately, we were bounced in the first round of the playoffs.