SAN DIEGO -- In more than a decade under general manager A.J. Preller, the Padres have yet to go to an arbitration hearing with any of their players.

And that streak will officially hit 11 years -- after the team and Michael King got creative in coming to an agreement for the 2025 season.

The two sides finalized a deal for next year, which contains a mutual option for '26, the Padres announced Friday morning. King's contract will guarantee him $7.75 million, sources told MLB.com, but is structured creatively to benefit both parties.

Per sources, King will receive a $1 million salary with a $3 million signing bonus. The 2026 mutual option is worth $15 million and includes a $3.75 million buyout, which could become $4 million if King hits incentives based on number of games started.

King, 29, was acquired before the 2024 season from the Yankees in the deal that sent Juan Soto to the Bronx. In his first full season as a starter, King broke out in a major way, posting a 2.95 ERA. He struck out 201 batters and walked just 63 in 173 2/3 innings, a performance that earned him downballot votes for the National League Cy Young Award.

Entering his final season before free agency, King's name has emerged in trade rumors -- along with a number of other Padres in similar situations, including fellow starter Dylan Cease. Friday's deal would seem to lessen the likelihood that King gets dealt, because of the value his contract affords the Padres.

Mutual options, which require both the player and team to opt in, are seldom executed. (The most recent example of both sides opting in came when third baseman Aramis Ramirez's mutual option with the Brewers was executed in advance of the 2015 season.) The likeliest scenario remains King hitting free agency next winter.

At that point, King would be owed a buyout of $3.75 million, with escalators that could take it to $4 million based on the number of starts he makes in 2025.

Per sources, the Padres had submitted a proposal for a $7.325 million salary for King in 2025, with King countering at $8.8 million. Had the two sides not come to an agreement, one of those numbers would have been picked through arbitration. King was the only Padre to reach the filing stage of the process without coming to an agreement.

Instead, Friday¡¯s deal maintains Preller's perfect record of avoiding arbitration. No Padre has reached an arbitration hearing since Andrew Cashner in 2014, the winter before Preller was hired.