Who's on first? Not Andrew Vaughn. Nor Tim Elko.
In order to make room for Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman coming off rehab stints, the White Sox chose to option both of their first basemen to Charlotte this afternoon. As the franchise embarks on an uncertain time at what they'd long considered the most certain of positions, Miguel Vargas will move across to the other infield corner against right-handed opposing starters, where a left-handed Josh Rojas can start at third. Lenyn Sosa should soak up most of the other chances, but it's a strange new era on the South Side. Even catcher Matt Thaiss got some pregame defensive reps at first.
"it's going to be super weird," said Andrew Benintendi. "He's a proven hitter in this league. Everybody's go through scuffles. I went through four months of it last year hitting below .200. I don't know. That's the business side of it."
Given that Vaughn was hitting just .189/.218/.314 while playing in 48 of the White Sox's first 50 games, the demotion doesn't come out of nowhere, but the order in which the news reached the public couldn't have been better designed to misdirect. The wave of official moves was preceded by Cam Freeland's Elko sighting in Charlotte Wednesday night, which made it seemingly less likely that Vaughn would be part of any shuffle.
"At this point, though, we can't just rely on the expected numbers," Chris Getz said Friday. "The level of production that we need to see out of [Vaughn] and that position needs to be better. There's some physical adjustments that can be made, and we're going to dive into that."
And as we discussed Wednesday afternoon, the White Sox were signaling a readiness to phase Vaughn out of their plans by phasing Vaughn off the field. Elko had made the previous five starts at first base, and even when Vaughn opened a game with a mitt, he wasn't guaranteed to end it with one. That painted an ominous picture for Vaughn, and one that arrived a little sooner than Jim imagined:
In previous years, the sequence would probably be simple: Elko heads back to Charlotte, Vaughn returns to first base, and Benintendi leads the rotation at DH. In a world where Vaughn is no longer considered a part of the future, and Venable is merely looking for the nine players most capable of providing some kind of support toward a winning effort, the possibilities suddenly open up. The best possible defensive infield has Sosa at first base. The best defensive outfield relegates Benintendi to DH. What if those defensive options are also equally valid offensively to Vaughn, if not outright superior? That would be asking a question Vaughn doesn't want to know the answer to.
The safer bet is that Vaughn will retain his prominent part of the lineup, whether because the White Sox truly can't give up on him, or merely because Benintendi, Tauchman and/or Austin Slater keep getting hurt. It's just no longer a lock, which is news in its own right. Assuming Venable's brand of "leading with empathy" and "relentless positivity" precludes him from throwing a well-meaning player off the side of the boat, the aggrieved portion of the White Sox fan base may never get the cathartic changing-of-the-guards moment it seeks. Any turning of the page will probably just sort of happen. Maybe it's already started.
"He understood," Getz said of his conversation with Vaughn where he delivered the news. "He mentioned he has been grinding. He has survival skills and he was showing that. He got two knocks last game and there are many times this season you felt like it was coming, he was going to break out. But he’s better than just grinding, just getting a couple of hits here and there. He’s a guy that needs to drive the baseball, can drive the baseball. So, I think he’s actually looking forward to taking a step back, slowing things down."
Getz made reference to Vaughn's upper and lower halves not being synced up as a mechanical element that will draw focus while he's in Charlotte. As much attention as the Sox gave to Vaughn's batted ball data, that his plate discipline has sunk to 15 strikeouts over one walk in the month of May was another nudge to make a move. And when asked how Vaughn's case differs from Luis Robert Jr.'s protracted struggles, Getz acknowledged that lacking a speedy centerfielder's alternative routes to adding value is another element. With Tim Elko also going down with the mandate to excise some of the chasing that marred his first big league action, Getz's excitement for the level of defensive acumen on the active roster was palplable.
But with Jake Burger on other side of the diamond, fresh off his own "refresh" period at Triple-A, Will Venable paid mention to that as a model for how Vaughn could quickly return. Burger was supposed to be accompanied by Vaughn on Friday morning for a charitable visit to Gigi's Playhouse, as part of his advocacy for people affected by Down's Syndrome, but wound up taking questions about his former teammate's demotion instead.
"It's always a good thing to have a little reset to see if he can get back to himself," Burger said. "He was a leader in the clubhouse when I was here. He's the same guy every single day, even keel. He's an awesome dude and a hard worker. It's a good reset for him and we'll see. He's a stud. I don't expect it to be too long for him."
"Sometimes it can be a little bit of a reset," said Mike Tauchman. "Sometimes it's just a matter of taking a deep breath and focusing on some simple things. I really don't know. But I know for me, it was always I wanted to get back in the game as soon as I could. So I'm sure he's frustrated. He's a really good player and I think we're gonna need him at some point this year to help us win a lot of games."
For as long as Vaughn spends in Charlotte -- and if he spends two weeks there, the White Sox can regain a year of service time that's not likely to matter -- the Will Venable can roll with Vargas and Sosa, both of whom saw time at first base. Benintendi figures to get the bulk of the time at DH, if only because the Sox suddenly have five other outfielders who are more capable of covering ground.
"This gives us a chance to match up," Venable said of wielding six outfielders. "This gives us a chance to have guys who have had injuries this year not have to expose them to everyday at-bats. I think we can mix and match, even in-game--we can see [Michael A.] Taylor come in, Tauchman come in and on any given day we can utilize our whole bench. Excited about that."
