Gyorko deal is Padres’ best chance

Someone told Jedd Gyorko on Monday that he could afford a better shirt now -- meaning now that he’s guaranteed some $35 million over the next six years.

“No need,” Gyorko said, smirking behind his rumpled plaid short-sleeve.

The Padres must hope Andrew Cashner feels the same way, that there is only so much camouflage a man can buy in a lifetime.

Because this is the way it has to go.

The Padres announced on Monday they had signed Gyorko to a contract that keeps the second baseman with the team through at least 2019 . . . and we can only hope Cashner and Everth Cabrera follow sooner than later.

See, the Padres will not ever be able to afford Cashner or Cabrera or any other player of their caliber once they reach the free agent market.

The team upped its payroll some 32 percent over last year and still spends the least on players among the five teams in the National League West. That’s just the way it is and will almost certainly always be.

So they need to lock up players like Gyorko, who they’ve identified as having tremendous upside, well before they hit the market. That requires not only having the foresight and temerity to broker such a deal but also the player to be willing to pass up possible/probable mega-riches for mere super-riches.

That is obviously what happened here.

West Virginia-raised, newly married, first baby due soon, Gyorko provided a willing partner when the Padres came asking to dance.

“My lifestyle,” Gyorko said, “I don’t think I’m going to need much to live off the next 100 years.”

Sure seems like Cashner, as Texas as the Alamo and with a smidge of injury history, and Cabrera, who sort of owes the Padres a little something for standing by him when he might not have been as truthful as possible when his name first surfaced amidst the Biogenesis investigation last year, might also be the kind of dudes to give discounts in return for security as well.

The Padres won’t confirm who they’re talking to. Cashner said he and the team haven’t begun discussions. But everyone is hoping Gyorko isn’t the end of this type of deal.

“There are other guys here we’re probably going to approach on the same kind of program,” said Ron Fowler, the team’s executive chairman.

However, players have the right to gamble on themselves and seek more money once they become free agents.

Let’s remember that. Gyorko’s willingness to settle for a mere $7 million per year doesn’t mean others who choose to not do so are greedy. Capitalism applies to baseball players too. Get what you can. God Bless America and all that.

Gyorko, whose 2013 was one of the finest rookie seasons in team history, would have been eligible for free agency after the 2018 season. Now he’s locked up through ’19 with a club option for ’20.

Gyorko’s 23 home runs last season were tops on the team in 2013 and the most by any rookie in the majors. He led the Padres with 63 RBI as well. Should he develop into, say, a Dan Uggla, one of the two rookie second basemen in history to hit more homers than Gyorko did last season, this will be recalled as a fantastic deal by Padres General Manager Josh Byrnes. (Uggla followed up his 27-homer rookie year with five straight 30-plus HR seasons.)

Certainly, though, we must allow for the possibility this deal is more along the lines of those given to Cameron Maybin and Nick Hundley.

But kudos to Byrnes and Padres ownership for not being trigger shy on this deal. However, to be clear, it only bought out one year of free agency and avoided three years of arbitration haggling.

“These contracts make a lot of sense for both sides,” Byrnes said. “. . . Jedd could do great things between now and then, and sometimes as a club you’ve got assume a little bit of risk. It’s a big commitment, but I think Jedd is worth it.”

OK. Now onto Cashner and Cabrera and maybe Tyson Ross and Yonder Alonso and whoever else proves worthy of keeping.

Because this is the only way the Padres can do it.