Yesterday’s game against the Cardinals was brilliantly pitched by Chris Carpenter, as he gave up only one hit in a complete game shutout. It was a day game, of which the Brewers have no idea how to hit in anymore, and thrown by Carpenter, who has a reputation around these parts to be really, really good — remember, he shut us out before.

If I asked you what Brewers hitter got that hit, what do you think the over/under would be on the number of players you’d guess before you said Jody Gerut? Six? Seven? Ten? Jody got the only hit yesterday against Carpenter, giving him an OPS of .807 over his last few appearances.

Gerut is a 31-year-old smart guy who graduated from Stanford and is the answer to a future trivia question (“Who hit the first home run in Citi Field?”). He’s also been the butt of many a joke for his total inability to hit this year… so far he’s .212/.263/.344 this year with plus D in center field this year. Even though his range in center is good and has always been good, that batting line does not make up for it. But what do his overall stats say?

212 at-bats isn’t nearly enough to get a good evaluation of a player, so let’s take a look at everything else he’s done over his career. He’s been really up-and-down, like last year, where he hit .296/.351/.494 with plus defense and 14 home runs, or like 2005, where he didn’t muster that much in 170 at-bats before he got injured. But this year’s been by far his worst — only OBP under .330 (nearly 70 points lower this year!), BA of Balls in play of .232… he’s the one guy on the team you know will improve eventually if you give him enough at-bats.

Keep in mind too that he’s still in his arbitration years and managed to get a little over $1 million in salary last year… getting him for $2 million seems a lot more attractive than Mike Cameron in center next year. It’s an extra few million the Brewers would save… it’s an extra few million to spend on a starting pitcher.

And remember… he’s starting to improve already. Look at his last 14 games. Take a look at him these last couple of weeks, it would look pretty good to me like it would save him a job for 2010.

If we resigned Gerut, the three OF spots would be locked with Braun-Gerut-Hart in RF, with the only possible exception being Hart getting shipped off for some starting pitching and moving Gamel to right, and Bourgeois and maybe Brendan Katin as backups. In the IF, it’d be a McGehee/Counsell platoon (if Craig resigns), Escobar, Weeks, and Fielder. That would also save a lot of money if we didn’t resign Felipe Lopez either.

Also, for the record, I don’t think Gallardo-Parra-Bush-FA pitcher-Suppan is that bad for next year. Certainly could keep up just fine with that offense.

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milwaukee brewers by Cody