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With the new voices in the clubhouse, it's worth another shot to see if maybe he can put that Cal swing together. What difference does a 1 x $4 - $6M contract make when the payroll is going to be miniscule...

I’m not sure if this says more about Vaughn or the state of the roster, but either way I’m lol’ing that Vaughn has a legitimate shot at either: 1. Being non-tendered by the worst team of all time 2. Being the Sox most productive hitter in 2025

Can I keep pretending he isn't a terrible offensive player though??

Vaughn had a 20% BB rate in his Junior year at Cal vs. the 6% rate he’s been sporting the last three years with the Sox. His BB to K ratio was nearly 2 to 1. He was an incredibly disciplined hitter and that has not translated at all to the majors. And I disagree somewhat on the ability to punish the ball. His exit velocities (especially his max ones) are mostly fine. The problem is he’s no longer making good swing decisions and is chasing like crazy (bottom 21st percentile). I 100% believe having more than 135 plate appearances above Low A ball would have made some difference in that area. Doesn’t mean he would have turned to out to be a good pick or even a semblance of the guy he was at Cal, but you can pretend that essentially no time in AA & AAA didn’t have some effect on his long term development.

If we can't afford $6 million there are exactly zero 1B free agents worth signing over Vaughn out there. At best, you'll save a little money signing an older, declining, left-handed Vaughn-like guy with zero potential upside. Trading a premium asset like Crochet for a 1B would be malpractice, so you're left with a smaller trade for a blocked 1B in another org (if one even exists), bringing Elko up, or retaining Vaughn.

The elation from the Slater signing knows no bounds.

I think the line just started forming.

We are coming off the worst season in baseball history and have been lambasted in the press since it ended. We clearly will have to overpay to land free agents. In this case, we’re talking paying a $1M above league minimum for a role player that our new hitting coordinator just worked with and probably feels is undervalued and potentially a good clubhouse fit. Who really cares if he was our “top target” for a weak-side platoon OF on cheap? I will happily criticize Getz for many of things, but this is a big nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Seeing as they were reported as trying to do so at the deadline, I don't think that's for sure.

If they attach Benintendi in a Crochet trade I'll care that they paid Vaughn because attaching Benitendi and getting less prospects in return would be the most Reinsdorfiest of cheap skate moves ever . While I think Vaughn shouldve been nontendered its more the 26 yr old devil you know than a 36 yr old devil you dont know. Not exactly any moves to look forward to except Crochet.

Sox gonna go trade for Massey now?

Personally, I'd keep Vaughn, because the other options are Miguel Vargas: If a hitting instructor can fix this, he can definitely fix Vaughn. Tim Elko: I'd like to see him get a shot, but I'd also like to see a bit more time at AAA, considering the nature of the Charlotte bandbox. Oscar Colas: I'm pretty sure the org would rather trade Colas to the NPB for literally nothing than play him, because they somehow think he's multitudes worse than Fletcher/DeLoach/Vargas.

It would be crazy for a team in what's essentially the first year of a rebuild to give up on a top 5 pick a few years into his career, especially with a new staff and hitting instructor coming in.

So it begins. I wish Gavin all the luck as he seeks to become the next Ryan O’Hearn.

If the Sox don’t tender Sheets (I’ll believe it when I see it) someone will have to check on Schriffen. Losing Lopez and Sheets in a month, the guy will probably be curled up somewhere.

I would take Bob Seymour in the Rule 5 Draft and non-tender Sheets.

I used to love going there as a kid when the circus came to town....plus the smell made it even more authentic.

This team deserves the old Ramova theater....rats and all.

I mean at the end of the day, just move Vargas to 1B and be done with pretending he isn't a terrible 3B.

"SoxFest Live" really isn't much of a rename. That's kind calling it ZoxFeZt, and claiming they renamed it.

Heyman reporting today the four teams most in on Crochet are Orioles, Red Sox, Dodgers and Phillies.

If only Sox fans would provide more water, their coaches, management and owners are carrying all of the water they can!

At some point don’t you need to read the room? EVERY SINGLE Sox hitter has been an utter failure the past few seasons. Maybe, just maybe, it’s an organizational failure and not on the individual players? Again, I’m not saying that I expect Vaughn to have a miracle turnaround just because there’s a new coaching staff…but it is more than possible. Giving up on a former top 10 pick to shave $3M off of our $90M (or whatever it ends up at) payroll is indeed dumb. It’s over emotional fan thinking.

After watching the last few seasons, this is almost laughable on how far down the list of dumb things this franchise has done.

Don't worry your pretty little heads. We will be finding the next Garcia and Ortega very soon.

bleh I hate blaming that. This was a body type that had no room to physically improve. His approach that was vaunted at Cal is probably a lot easier to exploit when pitchers can make you more uncomfortable in the strike zone, esp when he doesn't punish anything enough to be scared. There was probably a 99th percentile version of Vaughn that works out and would have been better prepped in another org. But for as highly ranked as he was, this feels like a player who was destined to end up on the white sox or rockies.

1- another team would scoop up Vaughn for sure 2- what on earth do you think saving $3-4M on Vaughn is going to do for us?? Letting Vaughn just walk would actually be one of the dumber things this franchise could do

Eddy, I actually follow the game very closely outside the White Sox. More successful franchises aren't having their GM constantly cite coaches for acquisition reasons. What does Fuller know about player development and growth? His job is to develop not chose who to develop.

Vaughn should be the easiest of the non- tenders, but you know we love wasting extra money on mediocrity.

Fringe players have been signing later than other players for the last five off seasons. Yet the White Sox, regardless of whose in charge, continue to overpay and over committ to these kind of players year sfter year. Top target last season, Martin Maldonado. This off season, Austin slater. These guys are probably so hyped when their agents told them we've got early offer.

The best we can about Zavala is he knocked off Zack Collins…but that doesn’t exactly scream developmental success, either.

So you were mocked for saying that Seby Zavala was a solid White Sox success when...they designated Seby Zavala for Assignment mid-season? That...seems like something you should be roundly mocked for as the White Sox seem to have laughed at you.

Thanks. IMHO: Orioles - Hell no. Phillies - No. Dodgers - Hell yeah. Red Sox - Sure, I guess. Cubs - No.

The two things that always caused me doubt about him was how a lot of his homers in college barely cleared the RF fence, as well as hearing on a podcast before the draft that he always seemed to struggle against Friday night pitching.

I'm at the point where I am fine with this. Or just playing Vargas at 1B. At the very least, it would help secure our way to a top pick (or at least the best lottery odds).

You seem to post a picture of Baghdad Bob when you don't agree with me, so I can only assume you're talking about me, and a few others who aren't negative enough for your taste. I don't believe I've ever called this team payroll blocked. If they can get Vaughn to sign for $4-5 million, he's still 26, and could still realize some potential. Who are we getting on the market that is notably better or cheaper? You can step down in production with Rowdy Tellez and pay him $3+ million. Or Josh Bell. They're both as bad without the possible "ceiling". I don't disagree that the right move would be to non-tender Vaughn and Sheets, and let Colas and Elko do an equal time platoon at 1B. With Vaughn, you seem to have a .700 OPS floor. With my platoon idea, they could end up failing and slapping Austin Slater at first just to get any offense.

Given the alternatives are likely worse and it's not my money, I guess I hope they bring him back. I buy the argument that non-tendering is a shrewd move, but in the current situation it feels more cheap than shrewd to me.

Apparently I can.

What Sox fan can ever forget 6/16/24? Deivi, while pitching for Charlotte, was part of a seven-pitcher no-hitter against the Durham Bulls. Thanks for all the memories, Deivi

I highly doubt they don’t sign at least one other major league contract. I’m not expecting anything crazy, but they almost certainly will do a couple dumpster dives to fill out the roster at minimum.

I actually think this is their top free agent target overall, not just for this role. I think every other signing is a MiLB deal.

Come on Ray, this isn’t that hard. They called him up early in free agency and made him an offer. Clearly he was their top target for this role. Who cares if they said that out loud to him?

You’re whining about their sales pitch now? If you don’t like the player that’s totally fine, but if Getz wants the dude then he should 100% say this s%*# if it will help get the deal done. Not sure how that’s even debatable.

No GM should have to say such a thing to a veteran scrub who put up a .586 OPS and -0.2 WAR last year. It just proves more of the same from last offseason — that Getz values bad players. That negative WAR sure looks familiar to most of the players he acquired last year.

Nuke LaLoosh in the flesh.

Basabe and Zavala come to mind...high ceiling/low floor/high bust rate types. W.Abreu has at least had one solid all-around big league season...only Eaton and Avi Garcia have had better single years since Jermaine Dye patrolled RF.

Well, at least we know he isn't lying.

Often times, those you are referring to as 2nd or 3rd tier players turn into dependable everyday players. Something quite frankly we haven't had in right field in over a decade. And as stated often times high ceiling players don't reach that ceiling. It may be coaching, circumstances, injuries, lack of development or any number of reasons. I'm not suggesting they don't aspire to acquire those high ceiling guys. However someone like Abreu who has shown mlb success, built a nice reputation amongst Boston fans, wouldn't be someone to be disappointed about in my opinion. Again, so long as he's not the centerpiece....I don't think he will be.

I think Quero is up by May 1st if not OD knowing this org. And I still think Lee can be a very solid backup catcher. I’d personally investment my limited money into a 1B / DH upgrade and give Robert some much needed protection.

This deal is a $1M above league minimum. And we’re talking about a weak-side platoon OF, so it’s not like he’s even blocking any of the AAAA OF prospects we have anyways. Honestly, this is actually a pretty solid move to potentially add some offense against LHP. May not work out but worth the gamble at the price.