Sunday, May 9, 2010

Jody Gerut Hits For the Cycle


Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jody Gerut hit for the cycle yesterday which continues to decrease the quality of the Brewers all-time list of players who hit for the cycle.

After Robin Yount hit for the cycle in 1988, and Paul Molitor in 1991, the list was looking respectable. But recent years have seen that list take a nosedive.

In 2004, my least favorite Brewer of all time, scrub catcher Chad Moeller hit for the cycle. Chad is a career .226 hitter, and he isn't exactly a defensive dynamo.

And now, Jody Gerut is the icing on the Brewers Cycle Cake. We acquired Jody in a 2009 trade where we shipped Tony Gwynn Jr. to San Diego. Let's ignore talent for a second, because I don't care who is the better player. What's important about this trade is that it said,

We, the Milwaukee Brewers, will no longer attempt to ever manufacture a run (like perennial powerhouse St. Louis Cardinals have perfected) and will wholly rely on home runs to score.

Way to go Jody. Congratulations.

23 comments:

william nick shaw said...

wow that is soo cool.... it looks like someone is going to get a bouns!!..haah

Joe and Chris said...

I wonder what you get when you hit for the cycle. There has to be some kind of Major League award or ritual or something. Do they collect the four balls from the four hits and put them together in a display case or something?

R. Geohegan said...

Joseph, I seem to recall having several conversations about our least favorite brewer of all time. I'm still going to have to go with Wes Helms. Guy was completely useless and never hit for the cycle.

oriole way said...

Joe - where are you from in Wisconsin? I grew up north of Green Bay.

Anonymous said...

not to mention dallas braden's perfect game today

Joe and Chris said...

Thanks for tuning in!

Ryno--you are right, thanks for keeping me honest. Wes Helms is the worst Brewer ever. Followed by Chad Moeller. Then Johnny Estrada.

Hey Oriole Way, thanks for tuning in. I'm from DePere, WI, just outside of GB. Great to have some locals tuning in. You still live in the GB area?

bennett said...

Ya there have been 3 big things happen in the last 2 days:Brandens perfect game today,Guret's cycle yesterday and Texchira slamming 3 homers off Chris's Red Socks!

Oriole Way said...

I did my bachelor's degree at St. Norbert many years ago - grew up in Lena (now that's rural!). I'm currently in the Black Hills of South Dakota - a long way from a major or minor league ballpark. Saw my first game on 8/19/1970 at County Stadium. Jim Hardin and the Orioles beat the Marty Pattin and the Brew Crew 3-0. Did you happen to go to school with Jason Berken - I think he went to West De Pere HS? Or were you in East De Pere?

Anonymous said...

This is very poorly written.

Anonymous said...

Tony Gwynn Jr. is a bad baseball player

Joe and Chris said...

Hey, thanks for checking us out. If you have any ideas on how we could improve things here at Opening day Cards, we'd love the feedback.

I agree, Tony Gwynn Jr. is not an All-Star by any stretch of the imagination. I think he and Jody Gerut are very similar. Tony has a .257 career BA, Jody has a .263 BA. Jody has more pop, no doubt, but I feel Tony has the ability to put the ball in play, move runners around, & show a little speed on the bases which could manufacture a few more runs for the Brewers. Either way, you don't have an every day guy with Jody or Tony. It was just the message the Brewers were sending with the trade that reinforces their poor approach at the plate.

Joe and Chris said...

Hey Oriole Way, I lived in East DePere but went to Notre Dame Academy, so I played against Jason (who did go to West DePere). Legion baseball is HUGE in that area, and we played together every summer for DePere Legion baseball.

Ah, County Stadium. Some of my earliest pictures as a kid are in the arms of Robin Yount, Jim Gantner and the gang. It's crazy they used to have those family photo shoot nights with the players. I bet they don't do that anymore.

Oriole Way said...

While I was watching you two tear open the packs for the Million Card Giveaway I happened to open a pack that had a Jason Berken "When They Were Young" card. If you don't have one, I could send it to you (unless you hate the guy!) :)

Oriole Way said...

Years ago I played Little League ball against Abrams' Billy Wickman (little brother of Bob Wickman who played for several teams in the majors). I remember playing a cow pasture, as well, in Suamico. Had to dodge cowpies in the outfield!

Anonymous said...

You posted this becase Grudzielanek and Mabry were special ballplayers?

And I'll be waiting for Pujols to bunt the runner over.

Joe and Chris said...

You may be the first (and last) person to compare Jody Gerut and Albert Pujols.

It is pretty clear that the St. Louis Cardinals do a better job of manufacturing runs and winning close games than the Brewers. From bunting runners over, putting runners in motion on the bases with a hit an run, or simply hitting the ball the other way with a runner on second, they do the things that are needed to get you in the playoffs (and win when you get there). The Brewers swing away.

Now I am a dedicated Brewers fan and will be until I die. I just get frustrated that they have every hitter up and down the lineup approaching each at bat as if they were Albert Pujols.

Joe and Chris said...

Hey Oriole Way- That Berken card is pretty sweet. We actually had another viewer send us one a few weeks back, so you can hold on to yours.

Bob Wickman was a Brewer once too, wasn't he? And I think I also played in a cow pasture in Suamico. I wonder if they have a real diamond these days?

Anonymous said...

Who compared Gerut and Pujols? I simply noted that Pujols knows what he is good at, and he should not be playing small ball.

Playing small ball works when the order is constructed the way that the Cards is. Guys like Schumacher, Ryan, Lopez, and batting the pitcher in the 8 hole (and LaRussa) lend themselves well to manufacturing runs the way the Cards do. On the other hand, an everyday lineup containing Weeks, Hardy, Braun, Fielder, Carmeron, MeGhee, and Hart does not play small ball. (Yes I know that this is last year's lineup, but I am willing to bet that this year you will see more runs manufacured in the more tradional sense. - this has already been seen)

I will simplify this: Cards lineup is cunstucted to play small ball. Brewers lineup was cunstructed to hit ball far.

Joe and Chris said...

Thanks for bringing up last year's lineup. I think it will illustrate my point really well.

3 of the 7 players your mentioned simply are not power hitters. The collective line for Rickie Weeks, Corey Hart and JJ Hardy gives them 45 doubles, 32 HRs, 119 RBI and 216 Ks in 980 AB, all with a BA under .250. That looks like the line of ONE power hitter. I love these guys. Some of the best young talent in the league. But I feel we did them a disservice by filling their heads with the non-sense that they are power hitters who should approach each AB as if there is no one on and 2 outs (I'll simplify...hit ball far).

I'm sure you got all excited when Daron Sutton was doing play-by-play on FSN and gushing and giggling over our new young talent. It was easy to fall in love with their occasional long ball. But as last year proved, one HR in every 31 ABs does not make a power hitter. These guys should have been instructed how to have quality ABs every time they dig in.

Instead, as we see every year down the stretch, not one of them can get a bunt down, and more often than not they couldn't hit the ball the other way on the ground with a runner on 2nd and nobody out, or lift a sac fly when it matters. We see strikeouts and infield popups with runners in scoring position.

Its no coincidence. If you approach your first 350 ABs as a free swinging power hitter (with limited success I may add) you won't be successful at manufacturing runs when it matters for your last 60 ABs.

Anonymous said...

I grabbed the opening day lineup - which was not supposed to be representative of who actually played.
Weeks-played about a month. Yep lets throw him in the mix.
Hardy-Sent to the MINORS for a month.
Hart-Ended up in a platoon role.

All three of these guys have 20 HR power (Weeks has to be based on projections due to injury problems). End of story.

Joe and Chris said...

Thanks for coming back, and for the spirited debate.

I agree with you, all three of those guys can hit 20 HRs in a season. And there were some circumstances that have limped each of their 2009 stats (although I would argue Hart and Hardy's respective demotions is connected to their piss poor approach at the plate).

I'm just saying they shouldn't have the same free swinging power hitter approach at the plate that guys like Prince or Pujols have earned. They need to have more productive ABs. We consistently post ridiculously poor numbers w/ RISP. I'm not saying they need to bunt every time a man gets on ahead of them, but they should know how to bunt, and in the right situation can get one down. Corey Hart couldn't bunt to save his neck tats.

And these guys have speed. They should be putting the ball in play as often as possible. I'm just disappointed in their approach and how it impacts our situational hitting and ultimately our run production.

Anonymous said...

I have only one problem with what you said: Hardy does not have speed.

And Hart couldn't save the weird face on his arm either.

Joe and Chris said...

Agreed, Hardy is deceptively slow. The only guy he beats down the line is Bengie Molina.

And Hart couldn't save the weird face on his face either.

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