Michael King hits Yankees fans where it hurts over Wandy Peralta's departure

Michael King's already ruffled some feathers in Yankee land when he told the New York Post he thought the San Diego Padres won the Juan Soto trade not even two months after it happened, and without any proof.

We know it's harmless. King is making the best of his situation and is confident with his new team. We'd venture to say the Padres did well in the trade package, too, but we'd also argue the Yankees gave up the least amount of highly-coveted assets. So, yeah, seems like everybody wins! Feels good.

But what King did after he said that? Totally uncalled for! Because after Wandy Peralta left New York to sign with the Padres, Yankees fans were already down bad.

Peralta signed a four-year deal with San Diego on Wednesday and will join the team's castaways across the country. Yankees fans knew he probably wasn't coming back, but definitely felt some sort of way when the news became official. The left-hander was a fan-favorite and great clubhouse presence.

That's why King welcoming his former and now current teammate to San Diego on Twitter -- his first curated post since Feb. of 2022 and first shared post since Oct. of 2023 -- felt like a bit of a jab. Or maybe he just loves Wandy so much, like the rest of us?

Michael King hits Yankees fans where it hurts over Wandy Peralta's departure

Losing Peralta doesn't completely throw the Yankees' bullpen in flux, but there is a need for a lefty and Peralta filled the role pretty darn well. And the fact he had a connection to the fanbase in a city where that's so valuable makes it all the more difficult to come to terms with.

King, who certainly knows the Yankees fan base well and, you'd have to guess, saw a ton of the chatter leading up the Soto deal, seemingly had some motive here. He's no stranger to such activity. Back in Oct. of 2022, he tossed some shade Marcus Stroman's way by retweeting Matt Carpenter's barf emoji response to the pitcher's Ohtani-Judge MVP take. King knows how to get into it on social media. Sly dog!

He won't let Yankees fans forget him, that's for sure. That was never going to be the case, though, because he'll be followed by Yankees fans the rest of his career as the future implications of the Soto trade unfolds. Let's just hope the rest of the ride has less trolling along the way.