San Diego Padres ink Jedd Gyorko to six-year extension

Apr 13, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA;

is congratulated by teammates after a home run during the second inning against the Detroit Tigers at Petco Park. (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)

The San Diego Padres and their second baseman Jedd Gyorko have agreed to a six-year, $35 million extension. Included with the deal is an option for 2020 at $13 million. ESPN’s Buster Olney first told us that the extension was forthcoming.

The extension will cover Gyorko’s last two years of pre-arbitration, all three arbitration years, and his first year of free agency.

Gyorko finished sixth in the 2013 NL Rookie of the Year voting. He compiled a triple slash of .249/.301/.444 while leading the Padres in both home runs (23) and RBI (63). Among all SD qualifiers, Gyorko’s OPS+ of 133 and wOBA of .325 ranked third on the club, while his wRC+ of 110 was fourth.

Last season, Gyorko missed a little over a month due to a strained groin. Upon his return, he struggled in July, accumulating only five hits in 51 PAs. After the first week of September, he owned a triple slash of .282/.365/.553 with seven homers and 20 RBI.

This season hasn’t exactly gotten off to a furious start for the Morgantown, WV native. He’s batting .163 with a OBP of only .229. He has only one home run to go along with 7 runs batted in. Gyorko has also struck out in 33% of his plate appearances (16 of 48). Last April, Gyorko didn’t hit a home run in and only drove in eight. Seems to be a bit of a slow starter, but that hasn’t fazed the Padres brass.

Could this be the catalyst that urges a deal with Chase Headley? Hard to say, but knowing the club is willing to offer a deal of this length could be to its benefit in order to retain their third baseman.

Another question might be what will the Padres do with top prospect Cory Spangenberg? He has been playing exclusively at second base since being drafted #10 overall in 2011. Spangenberg has played third before, but not since the Padres selected him.

(Call to Eye on Baseball)