The Brewers just saw this year’s first baseman Jake Bauers depart for the Red Sox on a four-year, $58MM deal, contrary to MLBTR readers’ prediction that he would accept Milwaukee’s qualifying offer. With Bauers gone, the Brewers won’t necessarily add another first baseman for the 2027 season, according to The Athletic’s Will Sammon and Ken Rosenthal. Sammon and Rosenthal write that the team could retain Andrew Vaughn in arbitration or turn to one of their prospects, while throwing cold water on the team’s chances of pursuing Ty France.
Vaughn is projected for an $8.5MM salary, according to MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. He appeared in 104 games for the Brewers this year and took 331 trips to the plate. In that sample, he batted .306/.390/.444 with a 134 wRC+. Vaughn was quite productive against southpaws, putting up a 161 wRC+ in 133 plate appearances, though he more than held his own with a 117 wRC+ against same-handed pitchers.
The overall production was more or less a continuation of Vaughn’s output last year with Milwaukee. He came over from the White Sox that June in a cash trade for Aaron Civale, and Vaughn proceeded to put up a .308/.375/.493 triple slash in 254 plate appearances for the Brewers, good for a 142 wRC+. The main differences this year were a decline in power and improved batted ball fortune. Vaughn saw his isolated power decline from .158 to .139, and he only hit six home runs all season. He also batted .355 on balls in play, which is sure to come down.
On the flip side, Vaughn’s Statcast profile shows plenty of red, which bodes well for his continuing to hit in 2027. He has good plate discipline, ranking better than average by strikeout rate (16.0%), walk rate (10.6%), and chase rate (23.5%). The contact quality metrics are also solid. Vaughn hit for a 90.1 mph average exit velocity, 43.5% hard-hit rate, and squared up on 33.9% of the balls he put in play. All three of those check in higher than average, particularly the squared-up rate.
Vaughn could stand to lift the ball more, but given how he’s hit since arriving in Milwaukee, he’s not a bad first option at the cold corner. The team was comfortable with the idea of paying Bauers $23.15MM for one year, so doling out $8.5MM for Vaughn would even be something of a cost saver. The Brewers are currently projected for a $114.4MM cash payroll in 2027, as noted in MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker.
Vaughn’s $8.5MM projection is already baked into that figure. Before factoring in any additional payroll space created by their World Series victory, that leaves $29.5MM of wiggle room before Milwaukee matches its 2026 year-end total of $143.9MM. Vaughn and closer Trevor Megill, who’s projected to earn $8MM in arbitration, have been floated as speculative trade candidates for the payroll-savvy Brewers. Now, Megill seems like the more likely trade candidate. He’s coming off a career-best, 30-save season and could fetch a decent haul of prospects, and the Brewers have several other relievers who could step up as the closer.
The Brewers’ apparently slim chances of pursuing France make sense. He’s now the only starting caliber first baseman on the market, is coming off a great season, and already has multiple suitors including the Mets and the Padres. We at MLBTR expect France will earn around two years and $32MM in guaranteed money, though perhaps he could beat that given the robust interest and the kind of money that Bauers just got from Boston.
Sammon and Rosenthal note that three prospects in the Brewers’ Top 30 are first basemen. Those players are Andrew Fischer, Blake Burke, and Luke Adams; they rank No. 5, No. 12, and No. 13 on the Brewers’ Top 30 list, respectively, according to MLB Pipeline. Fischer put up a 154 wRC+ at Double-A this year and bats left-handed, so he’s theoretically an ideal platoon partner for Vaughn if he makes it to the Majors. Burke struggled mightily upon reaching Triple-A, while the right-handed hitting Adams did quite well, putting up a 149 wRC+ in 279 plate appearances.
There’s risk in trusting prospects, of course, but the presence of Vaughn might help those three ease into the Majors while giving the Brewers more affordable coverage at first base than Bauers or France would have cost. Should the team look elsewhere, Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Bell are among the left-handed hitting (or switch-hitting in Bell’s case) free agent options who could platoon with Vaughn. For now, though, it seems they’ll handle the position internally.
Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images
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