Vaughn sucks but has options. Send him down and let him work on his issues like the Tigers did with Torkelson last year. Elko is killing the ball in Charlotte. There is no excuse for him not to be in Chicago on Tuesday.

My guess is Elko will be in Chicago tomorrow.  I personally would just option AV at this point to avoid the problem I lay out below.  No need to DFA him - send him to AAA to try to get right.  But I doubt the Sox actually do that to him. 

At this point you pretty much have to put Elko on the roster.  But if you do, one of AV, Elko or Quero have to be on the bench each day Quero does not catch.  And once Lee returns, it only becomes more difficult to manage because it appears to me they're going to have to carry 3 catchers.  Pretty tough to carry 3 catchers and 2 1B/DH only, and Lee likely isn't too far off from returning. 

AV just sitting on the bench does not make much sense.  You either need to play him, or send him to AAA and play him there. 

Edited April 28, 2025Apr 28 by ChiSox59

There really isn’t much justification in keeping Vaughn in the lineup (and on the roster) right now.  He doesn’t have a history of great success, he never really came into the power that we thought, he doesn’t get on base a lot, he is slow, and he isn’t a great defender.  Sending him down shouldn’t generate a “but you can wreck him” response,  because he is already there.  Elko might come up and strike out a lot,  but he is gonna give us some moon shots and sometimes you need that

One thing that will stop this from happening is JR: "I'm not paying someone 5.85 million dollars to play in Charlotte."

Well damn maybe you shouldn't have let your executives way overpay the man. 

The Sox have parted ways with guys they were paying before, and I believe Vaughn is a candidate to be DFA'd.  But, it does make sense to send him down first.  Personally, I don't see him getting better enough to justify keeping him.

Elko deserves a shot, and he could add some excitement with big home runs.  Vaughn adds nothing except frustration.

I'm sure JR is smart enough to understand the concept of sunken cost fallacy. What are we at, like 130 million below peak payroll level? Surely he can't be worried about paying a guy 5/6 of league minimum. I'd think that would already be baked into the budget as no one could reasonably expect to go through the season without calling players up, particularly a team in the Sox' position

Andrew Vaughn ain't it...

Over 2000 PAs at this point, and it seems the best we can hope for is that he returns to an average-ish player.

Edited April 28, 2025Apr 28 by KipWellsFan

You do not DFA Vaughn unless you need the 40 man spot.  Send him to Charlotte it's as nice a city as Chicago it's not like you are sending him to Birmingham...no offense to the folks of Birmingham. 

 

I really thought Vaughn's production '22-23 was just a launching point from a guy adjusting to mlb. Amazing how his and the team's performance since make those numbers look halfway decent. Don't think I've ever been more wrong about a hitter in my life. Expected he'd be a .300/25 HR along with strong obp guy with some peak .900+ OPS seasons

12 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

You do not DFA Vaughn unless you need the 40 man spot.  Send him to Charlotte it's as nice a city as Chicago it's not like you are sending him to Birmingham...no offense to the folks of Birmingham. 

 

Ain't no ham like Birmingham

39 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

There really isn’t much justification in keeping Vaughn in the lineup (and on the roster) right now.  He doesn’t have a history of great success, he never really came into the power that we thought, he doesn’t get on base a lot, he is slow, and he isn’t a great defender.  Sending him down shouldn’t generate a “but you can wreck him” response,  because he is already there.  Elko might come up and strike out a lot,  but he is gonna give us some moon shots and sometimes you need that

I would say there is zero chance Vaughn is on the team next year even if he "finds" something if he were to be sent down. So just launch him. 

I can't imagine a scenario where they bring Vaughn back at 5.85M and then DFA him 1 month into the season. You would think if that was even an option, he would have just been non tendered in the offseason.

29 minutes ago, 46DidIt said:

I really thought Vaughn's production '22-23 was just a launching point from a guy adjusting to mlb. Amazing how his and the team's performance since make those numbers look halfway decent. Don't think I've ever been more wrong about a hitter in my life. Expected he'd be a .300/25 HR along with strong obp guy with some peak .900+ OPS seasons

In my opinion Vaughn is a victim of circumstances...Covid and rushed promotions basically ruining his development (virtually zero minor league experience). And then being expected to be a major offensive contributor out of the gate. And it doesn't help that it's the white sox, instead of another team that understands hitting, who are the ones responsible for trying to turn him into a great hitter. Granted he's had a few years now to figure this out and it hasn't clicked, so I'm not trying to skirt him of the responsibility here, but the man needs some humilty, and AAA could be just that.

Edited April 28, 2025Apr 28 by Ducksnort

1 hour ago, HoosierSox said:

Vaughn sucks but has options. Send him down and let him work on his issues like the Tigers did with Torkelson last year. Elko is killing the ball in Charlotte. There is no excuse for him not to be in Chicago on Tuesday.

If you have 5 years in the league i dont think you can be sent down without consent though. Does 2020 count as a full year of that?

14 minutes ago, Princess Dye said:

If you have 5 years in the league i dont think you can be sent down without consent though. Does 2020 count as a full year of that?

Players who spent the full season on the MLB roster in 2020 received a full year of service time.

Vaughn did not debut until 2021 though.

59 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

You do not DFA Vaughn unless you need the 40 man spot.  Send him to Charlotte it's as nice a city as Chicago it's not like you are sending him to Birmingham...no offense to the folks of Birmingham. 

 

Any thoughts on Kannapolis??

You're going to be mad at me, but this name has been popping into my head lately: Andy Wilkins

Another one that bubbled up: Dan Black

19 minutes ago, Jake said:

You're going to be mad at me, but this name has been popping into my head lately: Andy Wilkins

Another one that bubbled up: Dan Black

I think we all know there's a decent chance he fails. At worst though, he should still save us a few runs on defense compared to Vaughn, if reports are true

21 minutes ago, Jake said:

You're going to be mad at me, but this name has been popping into my head lately: Andy Wilkins

Another one that bubbled up: Dan Black

It is absolutely fair to say this.  The game is loaded with 4A players who bombed at the major league level after destroying the minors.  The game is not littered with teams coming off of 121 loss seasons with a perpetually declining 1B who is currently literally the worst player in the game of MLB.  Even if you don't turf Vaughn, it might be worth just finding a way to get him some days off.  Dude is a trainwreck right now.  If it's Elko, cool.  If it is someone else, great.

AV will eventually hit but he will never be able to run the bases.  Not sure Elko can either.  He looks like a tank. Who else of the roster or in the minors can play D at 1B, run the bases, and provide some power ?  I don't think Venable wants another player that can't run the bases, unless he hits like Babe Ruth.

16 minutes ago, wegner said:

Any thoughts on Kannapolis??

the city just spent $100 million to revitalize the downtown area, with about half of that going to the stadium.  It's actually pretty nice for a low A stadium and has a full 360 walkable concourse, which I would assume is not very common for A ball. There are a few nice restaurants/bars/shops but it's pretty small. You are only 30 mins from Charlotte anyway if you need more to do.

I remember people suggesting, when the Sox re-signed him, to just DFA him and be done with him. I really thought this was extreme and showed a lack of patience and understanding of how long it takes some players to develop. 

But I am with those people now. I am done with Vaughn, done. He's just terrible. 

Let's be honest, and I know this is complete conjecture; but how many MORE games would the Sox have won with year with Vaughn gone at the start of the year, and the Sox sharing 1st base with whoever: Sosa, Vargas, our other catcher, whoever?   I say having his weak bat and terrible defense and baserunning gone from the lineup; even this early in the season, it's, at least, two games.  Two more wins already with Vaughn gone from the start. And with a team scrapping  to win whatever they can, two more wins are significant. 

Let's look at it this way. Let's say he heats up the 2nd half of the season like last year. So what, that means he's going to get semi-hot and get his batting stats up to only below average. 

Again, I am done with him. 

I'm not a fan of Vaughn, but he's actually hitting the ball hard. Statically he might be the most unlucky guy in baseball right now. I don't have a problem just DFAing him, but you can play Elko and still find ABs for Vaughn. There's at least 2 other guys I would probably DFA right now so it's not like creating a roster spot or finding ABs for Elk would be difficult.

The Sox doing a Torkelson makes a lot of sense.  Send Vaughn to Charlotte see if anything clicks before cutting bait.

 

27 minutes ago, tray said:

AV will eventually hit but he will never be able to run the bases.  Not sure Elko can either.  He looks like a tank. Who else of the roster or in the minors can play D at 1B, run the bases, and provide some power ?  I don't think Venable wants another player that can't run the bases, unless he hits like Babe Ruth.

Dude's hitting .354/.432/.732. That's about as Ruthian as we're going to get out of a minor leaguer

Edited April 28, 2025Apr 28 by 46DidIt