Wild contract wrinkle could keep Andrew Vaughn in Milwaukee longer than we thought

Baseball contracts can be difficult to understand. Teams are always manipulating games and service time to get the most team control out of a contract, in an effort to keep a player for an extra year at a cheaper salary. Sometimes these situations blow up publicly like it did for Kris Bryant and the Chicago Cubs all those years ago.

The Milwaukee Brewers have had their own situations with not calling up a player out of spring training to try to get that extra year of club control. One of the most notable situations in recent years was Keston Hiura's big league debut being delayed until mid-May in 2019. Obviously, this didn't work out for the Brewers in the long term, but the principle remains.

As of late though, Milwaukee has had to rely on young talent from Opening Day onward, with Brice Turang and Joey Wiemer being on the roster almost immediately in 2023. Joey Ortiz was on the big league roster from the onset in 2024 and Caleb Durbin got a call-up in early April this season. However, Milwaukee incidentally may have gotten lucky, in regards to team control, with one of its latest acquisitions.

According to Brewers insider, Andrew Vaughn may be in Milwaukee longer than expected

When he was first acquired in the Aaron Civale trade, Andrew Vaughn was thought to have the rest of this year and next year with Milwaukee, but no more. Vaughn was initially sent to Triple-A Nashville after being acquired, but soon got the call-up to the majors, and since then, he has been a force for the Brewers' offense.

After another big game from Vaughn last week, Brewers beat writer Adam McCalvy of MLB.com made a shocking revelation. As it turns out, Vaughn actually has an extra year of club control that will keep him in Milwaukee through the 2027 season, potentially giving Milwaukee stability at first base for the next couple of years. Be sure to check out McCalvy's Reddit AMA (linked here) as the longtime Brewers insider offers some really cool insights about the team in addition to his new information regarding Vaughn's contract.

From what we can discern, Vaughn will not be a free agent at the end of the 2026 season because he will not yet have reached six years of major league service time. As the current Collective Bargaining Agreement states, "Following the completion of the term of his Uniform Player’s Contract, any Player with 6 or more years of Major League service who has not executed a contract for the next succeeding season shall become a free agent." Vaughn currently sits at exactly four full years of service time, so there's no way for him to reach six before the end of next season. As such, Vaughn will have to wait until the end of the 2027 season to become a free agent.

Meanwhile, Vaughn's production, should it continue in a fashion that at least resembles his current output, would keep him as the Brewers’ first baseman throughout the end of his contract. That said, it would be nearly impossible for Vaughn to keep up his current pace, and that's okay. In 28 games with Milwaukee, Vaughn is hitting .340 with eight home runs, five doubles, and an OBP of .404. It's almost borderline irresponsible to try to figure out the math on what he can do over a full season, but I did it anyway.

Conservatively, let's say that Vaughn has played one-fifth of a full season with the Brewers, meaning to find his season-long output, we would multiply his numbers by five. This would put his season-long pace at roughly 40 home runs, 25 doubles, and 160 RBI. Again, not the most realistic, but it would be huge if he even got close to that pace for the Brewers over the next two seasons.

When all is said and done, only time will tell what Andrew Vaughn's ceiling is for this season and the next couple. Milwaukee has a load of first base prospects in the minors, including 2024 first-round pick Andrew Fischer. Still, allowing time to let these guys mature, or being able to use them as trade chips, is a nice luxury to have for the best team in baseball.