Friday, October 01, 1999
Vaughn likely to leave
BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MILWAUKEE — This probably will be Greg Vaughn's final regular-season series with the Reds.
The slugging left fielder not only becomes eligible for free agency this offseason but also looms as the top position player likely to be available on the open market. Vaughn's .244 average won't prompt teams to rush for their checkbooks, but his 43 homers and 114 RBI will.
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VAUGHN HIGHLIGHTS
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Highlights of Greg Vaughn's season with the Reds:
• Became first Red to drive in 100 runs in the 1990s (he has 114).
• Became first Red to hit 40 homers since George Foster in 1977.
• Tied Frank Robinson's club record for homers in a month with 14 in September.
• Has 14 homers, 33 RBI in September; in previous three Septembers combined, had 13 HR and 38 RBI.
• Has two red-seat homers, becoming only third player to do it twice in same season (Foster, 1977; Ray Lankford, 1997).
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Asked what kind of scenario would have to unfold to bring him back to Cincinnati, Vaughn paused, pondered and said, “I don't know.”
At 34, Vaughn, who is earning $5.6 million in the final year of his deal, probably won't receive any offers with an average annual salary rivaling the nearly $12 million Baltimore's Albert Belle earned this year.
On the other hand, Vaughn has exceeded 40 homers in three of the last four seasons, and there never seems to be a shortage of owners willing to outbid each other for a proven performer. A deal worth close to $10 million a year isn't out of the realm of possibility for Vaughn.
Reds management has not indicated that the franchise's new ownership will consent to paying such salaries. For his part, Vaughn insisted he doesn't need an enormous wage. Just a representative one.
“I'd rather be happy. Money doesn't automatically make me happy,” Vaughn said. “I'm not trying to become the highest-paid player in baseball ... The market has been established. I'll take fair market value, whatever that might be.”
Vaughn sounded more concerned about unspecified “issues” that he said he has discussed with General Manager Jim Bowden.
“They're very important,” Vaughn said. “That's going to tell me what direction they're going to build in. There are some things that aren't that good for me around here.”
Unwilling to disrupt the harmony he helped build among the Reds as they contend for a postseason berth, Vaughn declined to elaborate. But he repeated the Reds' widespread cry for installing a grass playing surface at Cinergy Field: “I was happy when (it seemed like) we were getting grass, and now we're not getting grass, so ...”
Vaughn was known to be upset early in the season when a roster crunch forced the minor-league demotion of pinch-hitting specialist Mark Sweeney, who accompanied Vaughn from San Diego to Cincinnati in a Feb.2 trade.
The Reds have options should Vaughn depart. Right fielder Dmitri Young could return to left next year, with Jeffrey Hammonds or Michael Tucker occupying right.
Speculation already has begun that the Reds might try to cobble together a package of players to offer the Los Angeles Dodgers for disgruntled outfielder Raul Mondesi, a player Bowden has coveted.
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