Remember Jody Gerut? He was a Cub for two weeks in 2005, acquired for Jason Dubois, then shipped out unceremoniously for Matt Lawton. All of those are transactions that appear from this vantage point as pretty meaningless in Cub history.
However, Jayson Stark reports that Gerut is trying to make a comeback:
As noted, Gerut had some serious knee problems, which was one of the reasons I think the Cubs dumped him so quickly two years ago. He's no longer a kid -- he's 30 -- but he was fourth in AL RoY voting in 2003, when he hit .279/.336/.494 with 22 HR and 75 RBI. If he really is over the knee problems, and the Cubs for whatever reason don't get Kosuke Fukudome (or plan B, Ryan Church), he might be a good Plan C. He'd come cheap, too.
Gerut is a Chicago-area native who attended Willowbrook High School. He was named Illinois High School Player of the Year in 1995; others who have received this award and made the major leagues include Cliff Floyd (1991), Jayson Werth (1997) and Carmen Pignatiello (2000).
I hope the Cubs have scouts watching Gerut. I think he's worth bringing back, at least on a minor league invite to training camp.