CHEYENNE (AP) - After another disappointing season of hovering around the .500 mark, owner Robert Wyatt stopped using the fact that the Cheyenne Scalpers reside in the toughest division in Weaverball as an excuse, and went with a new approach. A major youth movement has begun for the Scalpers. Gone are veterans Greg Maddux, Pete Schourek, Mark McGwire, and Todd Hundley. In their place are four players whose average age is 23 and an average speed of 73, as Robert wants more movement on the basepaths. "Last year everybody but Duane (Singleton) stood on base and waited for one of the other guys to pick them up. When all but 2 of your players have their worst season, that just doesn't work."

The Scalpers were also very busy in the free agent market in the last month of the 2001 season. "We signed a few young players who we think could be productive in the years to come," Wyatt said. Among those players was Joe Trippy, a part of the speed movement, and four pitchers. "It will take 5 or 6 seasons before we see if these pitchers will be good acquisitions, but we're optimistic." The cost of these free agent pickups was the Scalpers relief staff. Wyatt had this to say, "They all sucked and were old, so why not gamble with their roster spots?"

The roster isn't the only changes for the Scalpers. They have put in a request to the Commissioner to put a move to the vote. They would be moving from the small market Cheyenne, WY to a much larger market in Portland, OR. "It seemed like the entire state came to watch us play in the first two seasons, but the attendence went down each season after that, so we think that a change of scenery is in order." With the move, the Scalpers will be going from one of the few major pitcher's parks in the league to the much more hitter friendly Skydome. "With the deep park, it hurt our power a lot, plus it was hard to cover the outfield with the crazy weather that Cheyenne gets," Wyatt said.

Wyatt also announced the firing of Lightfoot as the Scalpers manager. "He didn't get the job done, so we let him go." Replacing Lightfoot will be Chef from TV's South Park. Wyatt had this to say, "Chef took a bunch of no talent kids to the world championship of dodgeball, a game he knows little about, we want that kind of results." Asked if they will be competitive in the 2002 season, Wyatt responded, "We're always competitive, but we intended to win in the future."