Not surprisingly, Eric Gagne has said that he will likely not participate in the WBC for Canada because he is rehabbing his elbow which was operated last summer. If Canada's pitchers were all healthy, they could have put up a fight, but in addition to Gagne, Rich Harden is out and Ryan Dempster is likely to skip the tournament.
Also, oft-injured catcher Joe Mauer is going to skip the WBC. The other catchers on the U.S. roster are Michael Barrett, Paul Lo Duca, Chad Moeller, Brian Schneider, and Jason Varitek.
Given that the Nationals backup catcher is, er, Matt LeCroi, you gotta think Schneider will skip the tourney. Of course, since his team is owned by mlb, he may not get the same encouragement to take a pass for the good of the team as others.
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