White Sox: This is the perfect Andrew Vaughn trade package
Nobody, and that means absolutely nobody, should be safe on the Chicago White Sox. The 2022 season was such a failure that everything should be on the table in terms of trying to replace them.
If Wayne Gretzky can be traded in his prime, anybody in sports can be traded. One player that might be able to help the White Sox gain some help is Andrew Vaughn. It would be nice if the 2022 season went as planned so we didn’t need to think about this but it is the reality.
Vaughn is becoming a very dangerous MLB hitter and he is only getting better. The problem is that they have a bunch of players that are big bat guys with bad defense. It would be hard to say goodbye to him but they need to change something.
Out of all the 1B/DH types on this team, Vaughn would bring back the most in return via trade. This would be an outstanding trade for the White Sox if they got a deal like this done:
The Chicago White Sox can address lots of needs with an Andrew Vaughn trade.
The two things that the White Sox needed in 2022 were a second baseman and a right fielder. They addressed those two things in the cheapest way possible.
Regularly, an outfielder that didn’t play right field well or a corner infielder managed to play right field. As you can imagine, that was a disaster.
For second base, they signed Josh Harrison during the offseason which was the cheapest possible option for them. The results on the field spoke for themselves.
In this suggested trade package with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the White Sox trade Andrew Vaughn and Joe Kelly to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Ketel Marte and Alek Thomas.
Marte is a second baseman that would bring a lot to the table for the White Sox. You know that you are getting a solid bat and a good glove whenever you add a guy like that to your infield.
If he came to a team like the White Sox who, despite the bad 2022 season, are better than the Arizona Diamondbacks, he might even be more productive with better lineup protection.
Alek Thomas is a Chicago-born kid that plays right field. He was a second-round pick in 2017 and he made his MLB debut in 2022. This past season, his age-22 season, was great for him. He needs to get his OPS up a little more but he was still a 1.4 WAR player as a rookie.
Both Marte and Thomas had a higher WAR than Andrew Vaughn in 2022. Vaughn’s ceiling is higher but the White Sox are looking to win and they have some serious holes in their lineup that these two would do a better job filling.
Joe Kelly would just be a salary dump in order to make getting rid of Vaughn worth it. He was terrible in 2022 and should just go as soon as possible. Again, the White Sox would be sad to see Vaughn go but a trade like this could lead to more wins.