...we have a school nearby that has 2400 kid in grade 9-12 and ya know how many boys tried out 42. That should be telling about the program. No body tries out because they already know who will and won't make it.
How is that telling? Maybe there is a core group of 30-40 who play a lot of baseball and are good players. Maybe others considering trying out are aware that they have little chance because they don't play much and aren't nearly as talented or committed as the core group.
Also, in the same school a golf coach cut all of his seniors even though several of them were better than the underclassman. He did it because he was not going to have a good team anyway and wanted to give the underclassman experiance for the next year when he thought he would have a good team.
If the team wasn't going to be very good anyway, what does that say about the seniors? How serious were they about their efforts over the last three years? Based on the info you provided, it may have been the best choice.