Not only will it distort as it dries but if the log is not of substantial size to gain the numerous 8x8's from one piece they will come off the saw with a bow in them. I recently re sawed a number of doug fir 4x4's that were free of pith and had pith with in the stick, they were all wanky, due to shrinkage and the sawyer.
Here on the East coast I would box the heart, the West coast has larger trees and thus the possibility of free of heart wood. Do the logs you are looking at have enough size at the top to offer free of heart timber? The timber could have the free of heart feeling on the butt, the top may not be so nice, I would not want to wonder what that timber will look like in time.
Tim
