Jake Bauers has reportedly agreed to a four-year, $58 million deal with the Boston Red Sox, creating a huge hole in the Milwaukee Brewers' lineup.
Bauers led the team in home runs, walks and OPS last season and finished second in the National League in on-base percentage. He was a huge part of their championship team, but now it's time for a new face to take over at first base.
Well, that new face is not really that new. The Brewers already have a replacement for Bauers, and it's Andrew Vaughn. Vaughn was supposed to be the starting first baseman, but he injured his hand in the season opener. In the time he missed, Bauers proved to be too good to remove from the lineup. The team still got Vaughn a ton of playing time by getting Bauers in right field.
However, Bauers never cooled down and Vaughn's at-bats were less than anyone expected going into the season. However, the Brewers clearly like him, as they benched team captain Christian Yelich for him multiple times in the postseason.
It's hard to even call Vaughn a huge downgrade from Bauers. He posted a .306/.390/.444 slash line in 331 plate appearances. He had six home runs as well. It's hard to imagine the sporadic playing time and hand injury helped Vaughn's power, but he can be a 20-homer bat with regular starts.
Since joining the Brewers, he has a .849 OPS and 15 home runs in 168 games. He also hit two home runs in the 2025 postseason.
Vaughn handled lefties and righties well this year, but especially crushed lefties. He can clearly be in the lineup every day, but the Brewers may want to add a left-handed first baseman to back him up and give them a platoon option.
Their No. 5 prospect, Andrew Fischer, hit 48 home runs last year and could be the player to fill that role. In fact, he could be the starting first baseman in 2028 if Vaughn leaves in free agency. Fischer may not be ready on opening day, but No. 12 prospect Blake Burke could be.
Either way, losing Bauers is a huge blow, but not one the team can't recover from.