St. Louis Cardinals acquire Jedd Gyorko from San Diego Padres for Jon Jay

The St. Louis Cardinals have acquired second baseman Jedd Gyorko from the San Diego Padres in exchange for outfielder Jon Jay. The Cards will also receive $7.5 million in the deal. Jon Morosi of FOX Sports first reported the trade.

The 27-year-old Gyorko has failed to effectively establish himself after an encouraging debut campaign in 2013. He finished sixth in Rookie of the Year voting that season, slashing .249/.301/.444 with 23 home runs and 63 RBIs.

In 2014 Gyorko was limited to 111 contests with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. When he did make it onto the field, he hit a meager .210/.280/.333 along with 10 homers and 51 RBIs. This season featured a modest bounce-back, as Gyorko slashed .247/.297/.397 in 128 games. He also connected on 16 long balls and drove in 57 runs, helping raise his OPS by .082 points from the year prior.

The addition of Gyorko is somewhat perplexing from the Cardinals’ standpoint, however, with Kolten Wong already manning second base in St. Louis. Gyorko is also under contract for four more seasons (for $32 million total), along with an option for the 2020 campaign.

Wong experienced an up-and-down 2015 but put up respectable offensive numbers relative to his position. His .707 OPS was good for sixth among NL second basemen. Having just turned 25 years old, it’s safe to say the Redbirds still have high hopes for him moving forward.

Gyorko does have some experience at first, third and shortstop as well, so the Cardinals may be planning to move him around a bit and platoon him with their other infielders based on matchups and to give players rest. He probably won’t be supplanting Matt Carpenter at the hot corner anytime soon (.871 OPS in 2015).

On the other side of the transaction, the Padres add Jon Jay to their outfield. The six-year veteran is coming off a rough season in which he missed 83 games due to a wrist injury and hit just .210/.306/.257.

Next: Rangers seeking C, SP upgrades

The Friars will hope to see a healthy Jay produce more like the player he was in the past. From 2010 to 2014, he posted a .295/.359/.396 slash line. While he’s not much of a power threat (he hit a total of 28 homers over that span), he does boast an above average career strikeout rate (15.7 percent) and is viewed as a capable defender in center field (career 3.5 UZR/150).