WORLD CHAMPS SLASH PAYROLL

The defending world champion Frostbite Falls Flying Squirrels, bowing to the realities of the league's financial structure, found themselves not renewing the contracts of several big contributors to last season's championship, including starting SS Edgar Renteria, mid-season pickup Akinori Iwamura and starters Ben Sheets and Brad Penny.

Renteria hit .308 and scored a club-leading 115 runs from the top of Frostbite's order, third in the league after Lexington 3B David Wright and (former) Brooklyn OF Ichiro Suzuki, and his release comes as a definite shock. While less stellar, Sheets (10-11, 4.10 ERA) and Penny (4-6, 4.72) started 45 of the club's 152 games last season and their recent injury history had to figure heavily in the Squirrels' decision.

Also let go in the blood-letting: C Mike Napoli, backup OF Matt Murton and Luke Scott, relievers Tony Pena and Rich Hill and (especially shocking) former prospect and Fresno State ace Tanner Scheppers.

The Squirrels did, however, keep the following players who floated through the draft: 1B Carlos Pena, RHP Russ Springer and 3B Edwin Encarnacion, who will probably be dangled as trade bait after losing the starting job to exciting rookie Evan Longoria.

The Squirrels, known for developing young talent, clearly took a different strategy in this year's Draft, taking several players already ready-for-prime time in LHP Paul Maholm, RHP Armando Gallaraga, OF Nate McLouth and Jayson Werth. They also used one of their slots to pull back exposed C Victor Martinez and lifted SS J.J. Hardy off of the Lexington roster to replace the now-departed Renteria. About the only pure prospect taken this year was perhaps the Draft's most dramatic reach, as the Squirrels tabbed high school C Bryce Harper. This video suggests why:



Lest anyone become too enthusiastic, let me point out that the high school sophomore is using a metal bat. That probably adds an average of 8 mph of velocity at the point of contact, which translates into a 12-15 percent greater distance when launched at an optimal angle for travel time (35-37 degrees). To put that in context, a 388-foot fly to the warning track becomes a 442-foot shot, which is the second deck of some ball parks:







Still, Harper's 502-foot shot would've been a bomb with any sort of bat. One expects him to add some bat speed as his senior year approaches, so...(gulp)...look out!