A week of most unpleasant surprises has forced Canada to begin drawing up a Plan B for its pitching staff at the World Baseball Classic.
The losses in quick succession of Ryan Dempster, Rich Harden and Jeff Francis leaves the national team with some holes it doesn't have the depth to fill, triggering an internal debate on how best to move forward. Obviously, an offence led by Justin Morneau and Jason Bay will have to carry the weight now when Canada begins play at the tournament March 7 versus the U.S. in Toronto.
But figuring out which of the arms remaining on the 45-man provisional roster are best suited to the task is far less clear.
"We're in a scenario of assessing our seasoned, upper-level minor-league guys alongside a reasonable core group of talented young arms," said Greg Hamilton, Baseball Canada's director of national teams.
"You can't go completely young and expect all of them will be able to deal with the magnitude of the situation, but you can't overlook raw physical ability just because of inexperience, either."
That dilemma comes after months of planning with the big three in place to front the staff.
Arm injuries forced both Harden of the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies ace Francis to withdraw.
Harden reportedly has a small tear in his shoulder while Francis, who battled shoulder issues last year, had a throwing session go poorly before making his decision.
Dempster, meanwhile, was the first to pull out, due to what is believed to be a sense of responsibility to the Cubs after signing a $52US-million, four-year contract extension.
So where does that leave Canada's pitching? Toronto Blue Jays hopeful Scott Richmond is suddenly the staff ace with a mix of savvy veterans and green youngsters to choose from for the 28-man roster due Feb. 24.
National team mainstays like Chris Begg, Steve Green, Mike Johnson and Eric Cyr offer Canada a known commodity on the mound and won't become awed in the moment. In Baseball parlance, they won't spit the bit.
Youngsters like Dave Davidson, Scott Diamond, Phillippe-Alexandre Valiquette, Alexandre Periard and Kyle Lotzkar are far less proven.
The reward, however, can be high as Adam Loewen showed at the first Classic.
The talented left-hander ended up throwing 32/3 shutout innings in the stunning 8-6 win over the U.S. Loewen isn't pitching this time around because recurring elbow problems have forced him to restart his career as an outfielder.
"We're obviously not where we want to be without those guys -- we're on Plan B here," said Hamilton. "But we're still going to be ready go come March 7."
