St. Louis second baseman Kolten Wong has been job sharing with Jedd Gyorko, the offseason trade acquisition, who offers right-handed power but little else.
The Cardinals traded spare-part outfielder Jon Jay to the San Diego Padres for Gyorko on Dec. 8, 2015. Gyorko has a six-year, $35.5 million contract that expires in 2019. There’s a $1 million buyout for his club option $13 million in 2020.
St. Louis somehow got San Diego to throw in $7.5 million cash as part of the deal, according to baseballprospectus.com. That’s shrewd business by the Cardinals, who also made a calculated financial move in spring training in March.