In muddy Padres rotation picture, Michael King appears to be on his way back

ST. LOUIS — On the heels of Yu Darvish’s latest poor outing and with Dylan Cease continuing to labor through what has so far been a middling season and possibly on his way out the clubhouse door, Michael King’s planned next step qualifies as big news.

King, shut down in mid-May with a nerve impingement near his shoulder, is expected to face hitters for the first time Monday at Petco Park.

“It is a notable step forward, and it does say he’s getting back,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said.

King recovered well from his first “up-down” in the bullpen on Wednesday, wherein he threw a certain number of pitches before resting for a time and then threw another set of pitches to simulate two innings on the mound.

King, who remained in San Diego during this road trip, said recently he plans to be back pitching in games around mid-August. But a timeline for his return cannot be certain. That timeline likely involves him throwing multiple simulated games like Monday and making at least two rehab starts in the minor leagues.

“He has missed significant time,” Shildt said. “So we want to make sure he’s back and ready to compete and recovering and able to handle a major league load but also major league hitters.”

King ranked sixth in the National League in ERA (2.59 ERA), WHIP (1.02) and strikeout percentage (28.4%) through 10 starts.

King, Cease and Darvish were expected to be the Padres’ top three starters and provide a strong playoff rotation.

But Darvish, who missed the first three months of the season with an elbow issue, has allowed 17 runs in 16⅔ innings in his four starts since returning. That includes the Cardinals scoring eight runs in 3⅓ innings on Thursday.

The Padres maintain that Darvish is still working through some rust and also figuring out which of his myriad pitches he can trust and when to use them.

Cease, who has a 4.59 ERA in 21 starts, might not even be around after the July 31 trade deadline.

The Padres are known to have shopped him and to be shopping for another starting pitcher or two to bolster their rotation.

Moving Cease and the approximately $4.5 million remaining on his salary would be part of a series of moves that would qualify the Padres as both buyers and sellers as they attempt to improve their offense without increasing their payroll significantly.