McCalvy puts it best:
#Brewers reinstated OF Jody Gerut from the disabled list and released him. No place for him with Lo Cain playing so well.
The Brewers are loaded with outfielders now, with both Cain and Chris Dickerson on the team now as well as Carlos Gomez on his rehab assignment. I expected Gerut to hit well – he hit 14 HRs in a short season with San Diego in 2008 – but it just wasn’t to be, and Tony Gwynn Jr. has turned out to be a perfect fit in San Diego despite looking nothing like a Major League player during his time with the Brewers.
I thought the Brewers would come out ahead in this trade, but Gwynn has turned himself into a solid big league player and Gerut might be out of baseball. Overall, though, it’s hard to be disappointed with the state of the Brewers outfield right now, so it’s hard to get too bent out of shape about this one.
I still don’t trust Petco outfield UZR ratings (remember Cameron was supposedly terrible there) so I’m not sure Gwynn really is all that since his defense is all he has and his defense in Milwaukee wasn’t very good. Gomez and Gwynn are basically the same player if Gomez would stop throwing the ball all over the place.
Gwynn is terrible – hitting just .211 and slugging UNDER .300! He is far from “a solid big league player.”
I’m not only going with UZR here but from what I’ve heard from people around San Diego. Gwynn’s hitting is severely depressed by a .244 BABIP that is unsustainably low for a guy with that kind of speed. Last year’s line of .270/.350/.344 is probably closer to what you should expect out of him going forward.
But even that line with average defense gets you a 1.5 WAR player.