Oh Canada

On the heels of Matt Fucking Stairs going deep to give the Phils the lead, and with Matty going to the series, I have decided to pull out my favourite thing to do....

....Ponder Team Canada for the World Baseball Classic

I do this monthly, deleting my old roster, and throwing essentially the same roster together, except sometimes I change the bench players around.

I hope this will be different.

Assuming this is another 30-man roster, this is how I hope it will break down

The Pitching Staff

The Starters: I would rock a 4-man starting staff
1. Rich Harden - CHC. If healthy, he is the best of the bunch.
2. Jeff Francis - COL. Wanted to throw a lefty between my 2 best.
3. Ryan Dempster - FA. Will be a free agent, so he may pass.
4. Erik Bedard - SEA. Huge injury-based question mark.

The Pen: I would rock a 10-man pen, giving plenty of flexibility for position players
CL. Eric Gagne - FA. The best late inning option, despite shakiness.
SU. Jesse Crain - MIN. Solid set-up guy.
Loogy 1. R.J. Swindle - PHI. I love the euphus pitch, it brings a tingle to me.
Loogy 2. Rheal Cormier - Retired. My Canadian legendary loogy, he has got to be on the team.
Loogy 3. David Davidson - PIT. Not a true loogy, can also be a long-man
Mid Reliever 1. Chris Begg - SF. Low-upside prospect has had some international success.
Mid Reliever 2. Scott Mathieson - PHI. This kid has got serious heat.
Mid Reliever 3. Phillipe Aumont - SEA. Top Canadian pitching prospect would look great in relief.
Long Man 1. Shawn Hill - WSH. Would be 5th starter, but not needed.
Long Man 2. Scott Richmond - TOR. MLB success paves way to a well-earned spot.

So with 14 pitchers, that leaves (math is so my specialty) 16 postion players. Let's meet my hopefull team.

Catchers
1. Russell Martin - LAD
2. Pete LaForest - PHI
3. Brett Lawrie - MIL
With Martin on the team, no one else will will play, but the 2 I selected offer plenty of versitility. Lawrie can play pretty much anywhere, and LaForest has played some 3rd & 1st and has serious power.

Infield
1B. Justin Morneau - MIN
2B. Pete Orr - WSH
3B. Mark Teahan - KC
SS. Emmanuel Garcia - NYM
1B. Scott Thorman - ATL
INF - Matt Rogelstad - WSH
1B. Matt Stairs - PHI
With no respect to Stubby Clapp, this is my infield. I liked the way Garcia played short at the Olympics, and Morneau & Teahan give the infield some offensive energy. Matty Stairs is my DH.

Outfield
LF. Joey Votto - CIN
CF. Mike Saunders - SEA
RF. Jason Bay - BOS
OF. Adam Stern - BAL
OF. Nick Weglarz - CLE
OF. Jamie Romak - PIT
With Morneau, Votto is pushed to the OF, pushing Bay to RF and Weglarz to the bench. Saunders is a fast moving prospect with the M's and should be able to handle CF for a couple weeks.

My Line-Up
1. CF - Mike Saunders
2. 3B - Mark Teahan
3. RF - Jason Bay
4. 1B - Justin Morneau
5. C - Russell Martin
6. LF - Joey Votto
7. DH - Matt Stairs
8. 2B - Pete Orr
9. SS - Emmanuel Garcia

That is actually a line-up that I think could do well in the AL East. It is very lefty happy, but the big hitters can handle it anyways. Bay & Morneau are a scary 1-2 punch, and Martin is very movible in the line-up.

And I think the starting staff will match any team in the tournament in talent. The bullpen is the major weakness, as most of the other countries with asperations of 1st place are 2 or 3 closers deep. We barely have 1.

So that's that.

Matty Fucking Stairs in the World Series. Go Phils.