3 Yankees players we'll be glad are gone in 2024 and 2 we wish stayed

Yankees player fans wish stayed: Michael King

Unlike Germán, King was of the former category of departed Yankees: trading him was necessary to import Juan Soto. And you make that trade 10 times out of 10 -- no insult to King whatsoever.

An important reliever the Yankees converted back to a starter, King was hot down the stretch in 2023 through nine starts, which seemingly built up his trade value to the point where the Padres wanted him as the centerpiece of the Soto deal.

Truthfully, King's success was short-lived. Those were the best nine starts of his career, after he was legitimately unable to start games in his previoius 10 tries. As for his career as a reliever, King was lights out for 34 games in 2022, suffered an elbow injury, admirably worked his way back for 2023, but was then very much hittable. He was very much not great from June-August, so he was already trending downward.

Those final nine starts saved him, but the Yankees pretty much swapped him out for Soto and Marcus Stroman. Yankees fans loved King's stuff, energy and hard-working attitude, but he's been replaced, and no amount of trolling will make us feel otherwise.