Report: Padres won't pay cash to Cardinals for Gyorko trade until 2018

Many saw the San Diego Padres' trade for Jedd Gyorko as a bad deal for San Diego, particularly because it would be paying the St. Louis Cardinals $7.5 million in the transaction, but that's a sum they reportedly won't be sending to the Midwest for a few more years.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Padres will pay the Cardinals $2.5 million in 2018 and $5 million in 2019 as part of the $7.5 million out of the $33 million remaining on Gyorko's contract that they promised to pay as they sent the infielder to St. Louis in exchange for outfielder Jon Jay.

The structure of the payment aligns with the financial flexibility the Padres were seeking in the deal, which general manager A.J. Preller made reference to at the time of the trade.

"We looked at the flexibility financially it provides us, whether it's this year or down the road," Preller said last week.

While Jay won't make much less than Gyorko's average annual salary over the length of his four-year contract (Jay is owed $6.85 million in 2016; Gyorko's average annual salary is $8.25), the defensive specialist will be a free agent after next season.

After an impressive rookie season in 2013, in which he hit 23 home runs with 63 RBI, the Padres granted Gyorko a six-year, $35-million extension.

However, while he showed promise in his first season in the majors, the infielder failed to attain expectations over the past two seasons, hitting .229 with a .654 OPS, while averaging 13 home runs and 54 RBI.