5:03pm: MLB.com's Corey Brock explains the reasoning behind announcing the contract as a six-year deal despite only adding five new years (Twitter link). Though Gyorko's 2014 salary remains unchanged, there is language in the deal which adds both insurance and benefits to Gyorko's 2014 contract.
3:48pm: The Padres have locked up one of their infielders for years to come, but it isn't the one whose extension status has grabbed the most headlines over the past couple of years; San Diego announced today a six-year extension for second baseman Jedd Gyorko that will keep the ACES client in San Diego through the 2019 season and contains a club option for the 2020 season.
Gyorko's deal appears to be a six-year extension in name only, as the reported breakdown of his contract doesn't include a change to his previously agreed upon 2014 salary. He will earn $2MM in 2015, $4MM in 2016, $6MM in 2017, $9MM in 2018 and $13MM in 2019 before the Padres have the option of retaining him for $13MM for 2020 or paying him a $1MM buyout. Gyorko's deal also reportedly contains escalators that pertain to the option year, meaning the value of that option could rise over the course of the deal.
"We are happy to sign Jedd and secure the rights to two free agent years," said general manager Josh Byrnes in the press release issued to announce the deal. "Jedd is a homegrown player in his fifth season with the Padres organization and has been a consistent performer every step of the way. He has shown us a real commitment to this organization and to the city of San Diego."
Gyorko, 25, had a solid rookie season in which he batted .249/.301/.444 with 23 homers in 525 plate appearances. That effort, which was more impressive than it would appear at first glance due to his pitcher-friendly home stadium, was enough to earn him a sixth-place finish in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.
A natural third baseman, Gyorko has moved over to second base in San Diego due to the presence of Chase Headley at the hot corner for the Friars. Advanced defensive metrics both felt that he did an admirable job there, with The Fielding Bible's Defensive Runs Saved pegging him at -1 runs, while Ultimate Zone Rating estimated that he saved 1.8 runs per 150 games. That defensive flexibility is crucial for the Padres, who could lose Headley to free agency at season's end. Should that happen, Byrnes will have the freedom to pursue both second base and third base options to fill the void, knowing that Gyorko can handle whichever position is not filled by a potential new addition.
The Padres already controlled Gyorko through the 2018 season via the arbitration process, so the Padres have effectively secured an additional two years of control over Gyorko (though only one is guaranteed). His contract is the largest signed by a second baseman with between one and two years of service time, though not the largest deal ever for a player in that service class. Andrelton Simmons, Ryan Braun and Anthony Rizzo have topped that figure. Regardless, that is an impressive group of peers for the slugging infielder to join.
Byrnes isn't shy about pursuing extensions for his young players, though a few of them have gone awry due to injuries in recent years. As can be seen via MLBTR's Extension Tracker, the Padres have recently extended Cameron Maybin (five years, $25MM), Cory Luebke (four years, $12MM), Carlos Quentin (three years, $30MM), Nick Hundley (three years, $9MM), Huston Street (two years, $14MM), Will Venable (two years, $8.5MM) and Chris Denorfia (two years, $4.25MM).
ESPN's Buster Olney was the first to report the deal (via Twitter), with ESPN's Keith Law adding (via Twitter) that it was a six-year deal with a seventh-year option. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports added that the deal ran 2015-19 with a club option, and Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish reported the $35MM guarantee and $13MM option value (Twitter links). ESPN's Jayson Stark tweeted about the escalators, with Cotillo adding that they applied only to the option year. Jeff Passan of Yahoo sports reported the year-to-year breakdown (via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Total steal by the Padres. Good player, good deal.
Not really. He would have been cheap 2014/2015 as a pre-arb. regardless, of which they gave him $1.5MM extra next year. The arb salaries are probably reasonable. They do get a boost of being able to have up to 2 free agent seasons at $26MM, There could be excess value in them, but they also guaranteed him lots of money, when he hasn’t proven anything. They may be able to get excess value from this, but I wouldn’t say that it is a slam dunk case enough to call it a steal at all. Gyorko got a really good deal too, because he got guaranteed money when he has proven nothing. This isn’t Moore type deal, they actually had to put a significant chunk money out there, expecting that he takes a big step forward over this deal.
He hit .249/.300 last season and is hitting under .160 with 16 k right now.
As usual, Byrnes has made a deal that will come back to haunt the Padres. Maybin, Luebke, Hundley, Quentin and now Gyorko.
Does anyone else see a frightening similarity between Jedd and Khalil Greene in terms of the alarmingly low OBP and high strikeout rate? Glad to see the club being aggressive, but wonder if giving him a half season to demonstrate a consistent ability to put the bat on the ball would have been a better decision.
Well, it’s inevitable that guys with very little big league experience getting long term extensions is going to not work out for at least some of these players. What I do like is that if they work out, then it’s a total bargain for the team.
I totally agree. I feel like the burnout rate for hackers like Gyorko is pretty high. He kind of reminds me of Bobby Crosby. All you have to do is stop throwing strikes and they’ll get themselves out.
Yeah, but there’s a relieving dissimilarity between Gyorko and guys named David Eckstein or Orlando Hudson.
This may be a precursor to saying goodbye to Headley. If their choices turn out to be spend modestly and lock up a second baseman (moving Gyorko back to third) or spend through the nose and lock up Headley, it’s not hard to guess which they’d choose.
Unless Headley can duplicate his 2012 performance this year no one will be paying through the nose for him.
Headley is already proving he won’t duplicate 2012.
And Gyorko is doing worse than Headley right now. Your point?
Headley is already proving he won’t duplicate 2012.
Not sure why anyone bought he would repeat it at all. That was the time to trade him if they got any good deals. He never showed that level of power, was a huge chance it was a fluke, and now it really looks like it was.
I hope you’re right. Headley needs to go.
Back to 3b? Gyorko was terrible at 3B in the minors and he NEVER played it before being drafted by the Padres.
Headley had a DOWN year and was better with the bat than Gyorko last season.
Long time third baseman?
Exactly. The kid stunk at 3B in the minors and NEVER played the position before the Padres drafted him.
Given the law of averages at least one of these early extensions will workout in favor of the Padres right?
Hundley – I’m ready to call it a bust. Awful defense catcher and not much of a bat. Luebke – Two Tommy John surgeries in two years. Maybin – DL 85% of the time since the extension (although he should take the field again soon).
Yeah pretty poor record on the extension front so far. Quentin is terrible defensively and is always getting hurt. Even the Venable deal was so-so, as it didn’t buy out any free agent years I believe.
I think the Padres are jumping the gun on this one. That’s alot of money to give a player that hasn’t really proved anything yet.
The same could be said of Longoria when he signed his first deal with TB and Archer this year. No one faults the Rays for making those deals. Players don’t sign deals like this once they have proved themselves.
Really depends on the escalators, if the escalator are easily achievable or significantly change the value of the deal this was an unnecessary risk. If the escalators keep it a team friendly deal, its a good move.
They have to fill out the payroll some how. If he didn’t miss a month last year and have a slump when he came back he might have been in the top 2 or 3 in NL ROY.
Headley, Street (option), J Johnson (option clause in case of injury and he has been injured), Seth Smith and Hundley are all off the books next year. Quentin is off the books in 2015.
That’s $34 million next year and an extra $8 in 2016 off the books. Who do we sign? I’d love to see Cashner signed long term but he has had one healthy season and pitchers in general are more of an injury risk that position players.
Gyorko hit .249/.300 last season and is showing no signs of improving this season .156 with 16k.
Wow you are really basing a players performance over the first two weeks of the season? I think it’s a little premature to worry about his average. Also, he was batting 270 before the all star break last season before he got hurt and pulled a groin muscle. You could tell he came back to early which affected his performance at the plate and he went 5-50 in July.
Only time will tell if this is a good deal or not but you can’t worry about the stat line of a player with less than 50 plate appearances in the season.
Risk worth taking. He led the team in HR and RBI his rookie season. A Dan Uggla type that shouldn’t K as much, walk more.
I’d have to think the Padres have Cashner, Ross and Everth all on their radar for extensions. Personally, I’d sign Everth first. Cashner is getting the headlines but Everth is evolving into a GG quality SS and seems to be establishing himself as a dynamic leadoff man. It would be huge for the Padres to lock up their middle infield for the next 5-6 years.
Kind of a risk, but he could turn out either really great or average and still be worth the price I think.
This is a good deal for both the club and the player. Good job Mr. Byrnes.
This is a good deal for both the club and the player. Good job Mr. Byrnes.
Confused by length Jayson Starks says 6 plus option 7th and MLBTR says 5 plus option 6th…. which is it
The link to Ken also says option 7th so MLBTR must have made a written error
The deal runs 2015-19 with a club option for 2020. Some people are stating that it is a six-year deal and including the previously agreed upon 2014 salary, but the deal is a five-year extension with a sixth-year option. I’m assuming the Padres will also announce it as such within the hour.
Thanks for the clarification!
Surprised they announced it as a six-year deal since there’s no impact to his current contract status, but that’s how they chose to describe it, so that’s the terminology we will go with as well.
He has five new years/salaries with this deal, plus the option for 2020. Semi-curious choice on San Diego’s part, but the amount of team control is the same whether you call it a five- or six-year deal. He’s locked in through 2019 with an option for 2020.
By making a 6 year deal instead of a five year deal does it lower the MLB AAV calculation of the contract for the Padres? Does it effect revenue sharing in any way?
Nope. Revenue sharing is done based on team revenues, and Padres will not touch the salary cap, and if they do it is way too low.
Steve – no signing bonus?
Yeah, im curious as well…
No doubt a promising player, but committing a guaranteed $35m to a player who couldnt even OBP .300?
Risky move.
If his power production stayed anywhere close to his 2013 numbers Gyorko would make more than that via arbitration alone.
PS Also his 2013 OBP was .301
Youre quite probably correct, but to me that only goes to show how greatly power is overrated by arbitration committees, sadly.
Power has long been overrated by arbitration committees, that is probably something the Padres considered when making this deal, but his 2013 wRC+ (110) and fWAR (2.5) were pretty good too.
Yep, i somewhat agree, as i said in my opening gambit, hes absolutely a promising player, but i would have thought at least waiting till the All-Star break to see how his 2014 pans out might have been more reasonable. Like with any contract to a young player, it could turn out to be a bargain of Evan Longoria proportions, or a total waste of $35m, and as a small market team, the Pads cant afford to get too many more of these wrong, a la Maybin and others.
Conversely it could be said that because the Padres are a small market team they need to take risks on deal like this. Big market teams can afford to wait for a player to develop longer because they can offer larger extensions. Small market teams have to gamble and try to sign players to team friendly deals.
Like Maybin, Hundley, Luebke and Quentin?
OK. I see the amazing track record by Byrnes on those deals.
Quite.
Add those four contracts together and you get a total of $83m and thats without any of the options being exercised.
More bad moves like this are going to hamstring the Pads ability to do anything in the future if they keep on working out less than great in the long term.
Conversely it could be said that because the Padres are a small market team they need to take risks on deal like this. Big market teams can afford to wait for a player to develop longer because they can offer larger extensions. Small market teams have to gamble and try to sign players to team friendly deals.
I find it interesting that Headley is getting so much grief and Gyorko so much praise when Headley was better in a DOWN year in both of those stats (40% better in fwar) and had a 46 point higher OBP
AND played GG defense.
What gives?
Since he had exactly 1.000 years of service time they could have gotten better deal by sending him down for a few weeks. He hasn’t proven anything yet, could have made a case that he needs it too.
Once he “proves” something he will cost a lot more than 6/35.
change once to if.
It’s not a bad deal though.
As a Padre fan I am glad that the Padres didn’t play the service time game with Gyorko, that is something the Moores regime would have done. He is their best option at 2nd and should be playing there at the big league level if healthy regardless of service time. The Padres are trying to get out from under the “bush league” tag and sending down one of your better players, just look at Springer in Houston, isn’t the way to do that.
Geez, seems like every baseball writer in America contributed to this news. Anyway, seems to be a bit risky in the Padres part. Gyorkos power is legit but players with contact issues and low walk rates are scary, hopefully this works out for them.
WOW! A guy that NEVER played 3rd base before he was drafted by the Padres is a NATURAL 3B. WTH?
Gyorko is a natural middle infielder. That is all he ever played before being drafted and he was bad at 3B in the minors. He is NOT a natural 3B.