Recently, our own Josh Brown revisited the trade which brought Jedd Gyorko from the San Diego Padres to the St. Louis Cardinals in 2016. This move cleared the way for Randal Grichuk to take over as the full-time center fielder and added necessary depth to the Cardinals infield.
The St. Louis Cardinals saw Gyorko as a utility man capable of serviceable play at any spot on the infield. This was especially important to the team for a few reasons.
Most obvious were the second half slumps from Jhonny Peralta and Kolten Wong the season prior in 2015 as manager Mike Matheny rode the middle infielders into the ground.