Minus the injured Jeff Francis, Rich Harden and ?rik B?dard, and without Ryan Dempster and Eric Gagn? who declined to play, an area that might have been a strength for Canada in the 16-country tournament instead looks like a liability.

Whitt and Co. can only hope the pitchers give the offence an honest chance to outslug opponents. With Justin Morneau, Jason Bay, Russ Martin, Joey Votto, Matt Stairs and Mark Teahen leading the lineup, scoring runs shouldn't be an issue.

Joining Richmond and Crain on the staff are: veteran national team stalwarts Chris Begg, Mike Johnson and Steve Green; Dave Davidson, part of Canada's Olympic team in Beijing; Vince Perkins, who pitched in the 2006 Classic; and prospects Phillippe Aumont, Scott Diamond, Christopher Leroux, Bryan Dumensil, T.J. Burton and Brooks McNiven.

Aumont, selected 11th overall by the Seattle Mariners in 2007, is intriguing because he may have the best raw stuff on the team, but is very young and comes with strong restrictions on his usage due to lingering elbow soreness from last season. His impact may be limited to a few key at-bats.

At least Canada has a lineup capable of doing the heavy lifting.

Morneau will start at first; Pete Orr and Stubby Clapp will share duties at second; Chris Barnwell is the shortstop; Teahen is the third baseman with Shawn Bowman and Corey Koskie, recovered enough from his concussion issues, backing him up; Martin will handle the catching duties with Luke Carlin and Brett Lawrie, picked 17th overall by Milwaukee last year, behind him; and Bay, Stairs, Adam Stern and Nick Weglarz will play the outfield.

Votto, a first baseman, will either DH or play left field.

All the details will start shaking out once Canada opens training camp March 2 in Dunedin.

The Canadians host Pool C at Toronto's Rogers Centre and open play March 7 versus the United States.