Chicago

White Sox

On a night where the White Sox tallied just five hits — which is most nights, Robert had the one hit that drove in a run. The veteran center fielder singled home Corey Julks in the eighth inning to break up the shutout to kindly set up veteran reliever Jake Cousins to earn his first career save.

Cannon made it through the first two innings without any damage but ran into the inevitable Juan Soto in the third inning. Soto took a 94 MPH fastball from Cannon into the opposite field stands for a two-run homer, giving the Yankees the early lead on the night. Cannon would fall victim to Soto again in the fifth inning when the star right fielder sent a solo homer into the opposite field stands to put the Yankees up 3-0. The three earned runs allowed by Cannon were the most he’s given up since July 20 when he allowed four against the Royals on July 20. If not for Juan Soto, the young righty would’ve had an otherwise solid night. He’ll look to pick up his third win of the season in his next outing, which is scheduled for Monday against the Giants.

Baldwin hit a three-run blast in the seventh off Enyel De Los Santos to give the White Sox an 11-2 lead and Baldwin his homer of the year. The 23-year-old has been mostly ineffective in 2024 with a .213 average and .591 OPS, and that might be overselling it.

Vaughn and Gavin Sheets both picked up four hits during Monday’s blowout win. The first baseman didn’t drive in any runs in the contest, but came around to score on two of Sheets’ three doubles on the evening. Vaughn got off to a horrible start and has been inconsistent at best since those scuffles, which helps explain a .243/.296/.406 slash for the 2024 campaign

It’s the first time all year that the White Sox have beat a team by double digits, and it only took 120 games. Sheets was a big part of that demolition; driving in runs on all three of his doubles. The 28-year-old has not had a great season — no hitters for Chicago have, obviously — but this did improve his slash to .231/.309/.367 with 35 RBI.

Bush gave up six hits while striking out two, but the notable stat from this start is seven walks. That gives him a dozen in his first two starts of the year, and be it nerves or poor command — it’s likely both — he’s really struggled to locate his offerings. Bush has some long-term potential upside, but he can’t be trusted as a fantasy option in 2024.

Flexen was only able to complete four innings in part due to four free passes and 38-of-78 pitches landing outside of the strike zone. He allowed three hits as well, but he was able to keep the Cubs off the board. Flexen is a starting pitcher who plays for the worst team in baseball who doesn’t miss bats and has a 5.13 ERA. You’re only streaming him at this point if you’re tanking for the first pick next year.

The White Sox want to provide the 24-year-old with some consistency, so he can expect to see his name on the lineup card at third base for most games going forward. Vargas is hitting just .190/.271/.352 with four homers, 11 RBI and one stolen base in 118 plate appearances on the season.

Crochet’s revelation, and assertion that it’s going to be a simple fix, certainly helps explain some of his recent struggles after being torched from seven runs on nine hits, including two homers, over 2 1/3 innings on Friday by the cross-town Cubs. The 25-year-old southpaw was the biggest name that didn’t get moved at last month’s deadline and the fact that he’s dealing with mechanical issues in addition to real workload concerns down the home stretch are massive developments for fantasy managers in redraft formats. It’s unclear how much he’s actually going to help for fantasy purposes over the next few weeks before he’s shut down for the rest of the year.

Crochet is the real deal, but he’s way over his career high for innings while pitching for a team that’s going nowhere and that might revisit trading him over the winter. He’s probably going to be shut down in September, and it’s really hard to say if he’ll offer positive results until then.