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Canada's World Baseball Classic Team Had Surprise Potential

Instead, the roster is full of a collection of former MLB players.
Photo by Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Any hope Canada had of writing a Cinderella story in next month's World Baseball Classic was blown up in flames Wednesday night. Already down some of its best players, including former MVP Joey Votto, the official roster is missing two more key pieces who were expected to play.

Canada will be without All-Star catcher Russell Martin (who would have played shortstop for the team), and Michael Saunders, a left-handed hitting outfielder who hit a career-high 24 homers last season and made his first ASG. Insurance issues will prevent Martin, who underwent offseason knee surgery, from playing, according to Sportsnet's Shi Davidi. Saunders, meanwhile, will stay in camp with the Phillies, his new club which gave him a one-year, $9 million deal this offseason.

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Losing those two is a critical blow to a team already down Votto, Brett Lawrie, and its best pitchers. The if-everything-goes-perfect roster had potential, even with Canada matched up in the group stage with two of the tournament's favourites in the Americans and Dominican Republic.

Canada's best-case lineup could have looked something like this, with Justin Morneau coming off the bench:

1) Russell Martin - SS
2) Joey Votto - 1B
3) Freddie Freeman - DH
4) Brett Lawrie - 2B
5) Michael Saunders - LF
6) Tyler O'Neill - RF
7) Jamie Romak - 3B
8) George Kottaras - C
9) Dalton Pompey - CF

.— WBC Baseball (@WBCBaseball)February 8, 2017

Admittedly, Freeman is probably not there without the exclusion of one of Votto or Morneau. Unfortunately for Canada, it was the player who hit .326/.434/.550 last season who withdrew from the team. And there are some holes there (Kottaras, Romak) and minor leaguers (O'Neill, who posted an .882 OPS at Double-A last season, as well as Pompey who has played 59 games at the MLB level over parts of three seasons), but that best-case lineup was one capable of putting up runs.

Canada could have started Seattle southpaw James Paxton (3.5 WAR in 2016) and dual-citizen Jameson Taillon of the Pirates (who pitched for the country in the last WBC) in its first two games, and with that lineup, the team would be favoured over Colombia and had at least a puncher's chance to upset either the Americans or Dominicans, which would have been needed in order to advance to the second round. It was always going to be a long shot to beat either of those powerhouses, but Canada has the potential to field an established team with pop.

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Instead, Ryan Dempster, who hasn't pitched in the majors since 2013, could get a start, with Eric Gagne—yes, you read that right—potentially tossing high-leverage innings late. Instead of Martin, Votto, Lawrie, and Saunders representing the meat of the order, there will be American-born Freeman and little else.

No Martin and Saunders is the latest kick to the gut for Team Canada. Photo by Kevin Sousa-USA TODAY Sports

Instead, Canada, already in an extremely tough position to advance, looks like one of the weakest teams in the tournament.

Canada doesn't have the luxury of a team like the US—with an enormous talent pool to choose from—to field a Plan B club and still be competitive. There simply isn't enough big-league talent hailing from Canada, so when a Votto pulls out or a Martin is prevented from playing, the hit is felt especially hard.

It's too bad. The World Baseball Classic has enormous potential, too, but each year we see megastars either unwilling or unable to compete (because of their team's wishes or other circumstances), which waters down what's supposed to be a best-on-best tournament. It's not. Just look at the US—the group of players who aren't playing is better than the actual roster it will put out there. No Harper. No Trout. No Rizzo. No Bryant. No Betts. No Sale, Scherzer, Kershaw, Bumgarner, Syndergaard, or Kluber (although pitchers can be substituted in in later rounds). And despite the who's who of no-shows, the US will still field a team capable of winning, but we won't see even close to its best product.

The WBC is good in theory, but not in practice. Team Canada's roster exemplifies that as much as any.