Daily Notes: That Can-Am Coverage You Wanted

June 12, 2012

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

By Popular Demand: Notes on the Can-Am League
Here are those notes on the Can-Am League which you, the Public, demanded via a purposeful and spirited letter-writing campaign to various media outlets and civic leaders.

First of All, What Is the Can-Am League
The Can-Am League is an independent baseball league which appears to consist presently of five teams: the New Jersey Jackals, Newark Bears (formerly of the Atlantic League, also independent), the Québec Capitales, the Rockland Boulders, and Worcester Tornadoes.

Other Indpendent Leagues, Their Names
Here are the names of two other independent baseball leagues, with relevant Wikipedia hyperlinks: the Atlantic League (located predominantly along the Atlantic coast, from New York to Virginia — and also Texas, somehow) and the Frontier League (located largely in the Middle West).

Some Names You Might Recognize
Here are some names you might recognize of players and managers currently involved in the Can-Am League:

Name	Team	Pos
Daryle Ward	Newark	IF
Ken Oberkfell	Newark	MGR
Tim Raines	Newark	AST MGR
Matt Chico	New Jersey	LHP
Angel Berroa	New Jersey	IF
Dexter Bobo	Quebec	LHP
Max St. Pierre	Quebec	RHP
Jose Canseco	Worcester	IF

The Can-Am Leader in Runs Created
The current Can-Am leader in runs created is New Jersey’s Nick Giarraputo, 24, who was slashing .429/.464/.831 through 77 at-bats after play on June 10th.

Regarding Nick Giarraputo, Whether His Name Is in Our Database
It is. He was actually picked by the Mets in the 12th round of the 2006 draft (according to Baseball Reference) and played within said organization for four years.

The Can-Am Leader in Strikeout Rate
The current qualified Can-Am leader in strikeout rate appears to be Stephen Fox, also of New Jersey. His line on the season: 24.2 IP, 10.9 K/9, 4.0 BB/9, 1.1 HR/9.

Regarding Stephen Fox, Whether His Name Is in Our Database
It also is. Fox, 26, was part of the Boston system in 2010. The site Sox Prospects noted last March that his (i.e. Fox’s) fastball sat at 91-92 mph.

A Note on Can-Am Scheduling
The Can-Am League schedule appears to span May through September. Of note: in addition to the games they play amongst themselves, Can-Am teams actually also play regular season games against the independent American Association, of which league, for example, the St. Paul Saints are members.

Today’s Notable Games
New York AL at Atlanta | 19:10 ET
If CC Sabathia (85.1 IP, 77 xFIP-, 1.9 WAR) continues pitching like himself for the remainder of the season, he’ll post his eighth consecutive season with an xFIP more than 10% better than league average. He’ll also record a WAR of 5.0 or greater for the seventh consecutive year.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Atlanta Radio.

Detroit at Chicago NL | 20:05 ET ***MLB.TV Free Game***
Despite an ERA (5.88) that would suggest otherwise, Tigers right-hander Max Scherzer, who pitches tonight, is very probably having his best season. His line right now: 64.1 IP, 27.4% K, 8.2% BB, 37.6% GB, 3.07 SIERA, 83 xFIP-, 0.7 WAR. And the batted-ball numbers that are inflating said ERA: .378 BABIP (.313 career), 18.1% HR/FB (11.7% career).

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio.

Houston at San Francisco | 22:15 ET
Gregor Blanco Status Update: 177 PA, .283/.379/.447 (.354 BABIP), 131 wRC+, 2.0 WAR.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio.

Today’s Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 4.5.

Note: the following Game Scores include the poorly conceived playoff-odds adjustment discussed in a recent edition of Daily Notes. Also note: the following table is entirely sortable.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Brad Lincoln*	PIT	5	2	6	4	4	BAL	Wei-Yin Chen	19:05
Chien-Ming Wang*	WAS	3	4	5	6	4	TOR	Henderso. Alvarez	19:07
Clay Buchholz	BOS	3	5	4	3	3	MIA	Mark Buehrle	19:10
Jeanmar Gomez	CLE	2	4	5	4	5	CIN	Johnny Cueto	19:10
CC Sabathia	NYA	9	6	7	7	4	ATL	Mike Minor	19:10
Chris Young*	NYN	4	1	4	6	4	TB	Alex Cobb	19:10
Ian Kennedy	AZ	6	4	6	10	5	TEX	Colby Lewis	20:05
Max Scherzer	DET	10	4	4	2	2	CHN	Paul Maholm	20:05
Zack Greinke	MIL	10	6	4	6	0	KC	Luis Mendoza	20:10
Kyle Kendrick	PHI	2	5	1	3	1	MIN	Nick Blackburn	20:10
Jose Quintana*	CHA	4	6	6	10	8	STL	Adam Wainwright	20:15
Bartolo Colon	OAK	4	3	1	9	0	COL	Jeremy Guthrie	20:40
Jerome Williams	LAA	5	3	4	5	4	LAN	Aaron Harang	22:10
Clayton Richard	SD	4	6	4	5	7	SEA	Felix Hernandez	22:10
Bud Norris	HOU	8	6	7	4	7	SF	Madiso. Bumgarner	22:15

To learn more about Pitcher and Team NERD scores click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.