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Brewers Should Trade Vaughn if Bauers Accepts Qualifying Offer
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- Brewers Should Trade Vaughn if Bauers Accepts Qualifying Offer
(IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect)
If Jake Bauers decides he wants to spend another year with the Milwaukee Brewers , the reigning World Series champions should absolutely trade Andrew Vaughn.
Vaughn is a great platoon bat to have in the lineup, but he's in his final year of arbitration before he becomes a free agent.
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Fresh off a $7.65 million season, it's not like the Brewers are going to have to spend $10 million to keep him around in 2027.
Whether Bauers accepts or not, the Brewers should at least re-sign Vaughn through '27, and then move forward with a blockbuster move.
No one seems more ready to come up to the big leagues than Andrew Fischer, so there's no point in wasting any time.
Bauers can have his final year with the team, but once he's out of here, first base is Fischer's position for the taking.
In no world can the Brewers argue that Vaughn should be playing every day over the 22-year-old, so they can clear that path by giving Bauers his $23.15 million in '27 and then trading Vaughn whenever they deem necessary.
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Brewers don't need Bauers and Vaughn
There truly weren't many instances where it made sense to play Vaughn in the postseason. Taking Bauers out of the lineup just felt like a bad decision all around, even with the splits that Vaughn had in the regular season.
What Vaughn has done for this team is nothing short of incredible. He's added a ton of power to the lineup, but at the same time, he's not getting any younger.
Riding the bench isn't going to help Vaughn in the long run, so if Bauers accepts, there's simply no point in keeping him around when Fischer is nearly ready.
All signs are pointing towards having Fischer start the '27 season at Triple-A, and that would allow the Brewers a few months to find a trade partner for Vaughn.
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At that point, Vaughn would be a rental, but knowing this Brewers team, it's not like they were going to re-sign him anyway.
This is an entirely different conversation if Bauers declines the QO, but that may not be decided for another week or two.
Until then, the Brewers must figure out their best path forward, and there doesn't seem to be a scenario that doesn't include playing Fischer at first base and letting both Bauers and Vaughn walk in the next year or two.
