Yahoo fantasy baseball players won't have to worry about this until next year, but I've been tooling around with my 2010 Yahoo fantasy football league site today and the new design they've implemented for individual league message boards is terrible. The simplicity of the old design has been replaced by a busy graphics-based board that tries to combine messages, smack talk, commish notes, commish changes and something new called "team slogans" into one annoying mishmash. The way it's set up, messages are visible from the league home page (without having to click on a message header), however they're displayed in a tiny font that is dwarfed by a Yahoo-automated header that says, "Bob (team name here) posted to the message board." Well, no shit, Sherlock. That seems obvious by the fact that the message showed up. So why is it so important that you point it out in text that's bigger than the actual message?

Smack talk updates and team slogan changes are also topped by these auto-generated headers, and the whole thing is put inside a big white box that features your avatar or team logo on the left. If you post a four-word message or smack talk, there ends up being a lot of wasted white space. Yahoo does give you the option to sort by category, but if you do so, you need to once again scroll back down the page past your league standings (and past the commish note-specific box, which has nonsensically been moved above the message board, which also displays commish notes) to get to what you want to look at.

And while I'm ranting, do we really need the ability to post messages and smack talk and team slogans?! It reeks heavily of trying to draw new users with catchy but useless features. I'd rather see the whole system streamlined.

It's funny how long ago March seems by the time the end of July rolls around. All of our pre-draft predictions and prejudices have been replaced by something I call "roster panic," defined as the realization that your current lineup isn't good enough to finish in the money, no matter how close you may be. Suddenly, it's all about filling holes, and players you hated in March become guys who you'd kill a stranger to get onto your team.

For example, yesterday I traded Nick Swisher for Geovany Soto and Billy Butler. Yes, that's the same Geovany Soto I wrote this about in January. What can I say? Miguel Olivo is no longer cutting it, and Soto is obviously a huge upgrade at that position. I also recommended in March that you avoid drafting Butler, as I believed last season represented his plateau rather than a sign of bigger things to come. Truth be told, I was pretty much right. His AVG, RBI and runs scored are up ever so slightly, but his current home-run total (only nine) is a huge disappointment. But as a DH replacement for Swisher when I'm also getting Soto? Hells yeah. Send him my way.

Being within shouting distance of a money finish as the trade deadline approaches can do funny things to the brain, not least of which is making you forget or ignore all of the things you were sure about this past spring. When you write for a fantasy baseball blog, you also run the danger of looking like a hypocrite. But none of that matters. Winning is way more important than being afraid to admit you were wrong.

So Pittsburgh rookie Pedro Alvarez now has four home runs over his last two games and four multi-hit games out of his last five. And these aren't chincy home runs he's hitting. I was at the game yesterday and saw two of them in person. These are "oh my god he just vaporized the baseball"-style dingers.

Now I just need to figure out what makes me happier, the realization that it's a member of my beloved yet beleaguered Pirates showing this kind of offensive prowess or the fact that I actually traded John Axford for Alvarez mere days before the power explosion began. I must say, after rostering and starting Gordon Beckham, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Lopez, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Felipe Lopez this season, it's finally nice to own a productive third baseman I don't have to spend time worrying about. Oh, and if you're in a shallow league, you might get lucky and find he's currently a free agent.

It’s mid-July.

Your ratios are toast because you drafted Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Jake Peavy and Scott Baker. You have one option left when it comes to pitching. Forget about WHIP and ERA and try to come in first in Ks and WHIP. You have to start streaming. I've been forced to stream in one of my leagues, and I've developed a few helpful rules and tips to aid you in your search for the perfect streamer. My name is Matt. I'm with FH and I am here to help.

1. Avoid rookie pitchers. I can’t stress this enough. I want no part of the warm bodies the Pirates and Royals will be calling up to make his major league debut in August. You’ll say, “His minor league numbers were amazing.” I’ll respond, “Yeah, but he was playing in a league that couldn’t afford outfield fences and all of his outfielders were 6’18 and catch balls with their teeth.” If you want to stream, you’re already dealing with guys that are risky. Don’t screw up your WHIP and ERA further while not getting wins and Ks because a rookie starter only stuck around for two innings. Veterans are boring and predictable. I'd rather take a typical Dave Bush start against Pittsburgh than take a risk on some guy who had spent four months making guys look foolish in Toledo.

So, I must join the chorus of apologies here at Fantasy Hurler, as I intended to write more Chin Music than I have contributed so far. However, a daughter in preschool who needs attention (seriously, that was NOT in the pamphlet I received) and a relatively new job I am attempting to master gives me much less time than I had just a year ago. I can't promise very much regular content going forward, but I wanted to get a few things off my chest as we pause for the All-Star break.

-- Overall, I enjoyed a decent first half in fantasy baseball this year. Of the three teams I am managing this year, my team in the Hurler league is faring the worst. The Sofa Kings are tied for fifth place in the 12-team league, 19.5 points out of first place. I am completely convinced that this is due to the engagement level of the league's owners. It seems like every time I look for a player to pick up, he has been rostered already for a week or more, sometimes longer. This is a testament to the owners in the league, to whom I must tip my hat at this point. There is a lot of baseball left to be played, but getting into the top tier of this league will be a welcome challenge. Kudos to the owners of Ballin' in the Bay (Eric) and the Lucky Strikes (Glenn), as they have set themselves apart from the rest of the pack. Good luck to everyone else in the league as we all try to claw to respectability.

This is going to sound like I'm lying, but I assure you, I'm not. I looked it up today. After a slow start, Prince Fielder has now hit 20 home runs this season. Of those 20, 16 have been with the bases empty. SIXTEEN. That seems statistically impossible. It certainly explains why he's driven in only 39 base runners this year. It also throws a bright shining light on why my money-team lags so far behind in RBI this year. To say that he's a little off the pace of the 141 he drove in last year is a gross understatement.

-- Praise Jebus that Joey Votto finally made the NL All-Star team. Although I remain in a kind of disgusted awe that it took MLB's Final Vote thingie to get him in. So happy I drafted him for my Hurler team. So pissed I got cute and passed him over for Jacoby Ellsbury in my money league. Note to self: Never get cute again. Pick the guys you know are going to be good.

-- So Cliff Lee goes from a ballpark where not many home runs are hit in Seattle to a ballpark where a lot of home runs are hit in Arlington. But, then again, if C.J. Wilson, Tommy Hunter and Colby Lewis can all be carrying sub-3.40 ERAs while pitching there half the time, Cliff Lee should be able to post a number that looks like negative infinity.

-- I'm tired of hearing about Dallas Braden. No ... make that more than tired. Exhausted.

-- Hope you sold high on Phil Hughes. I didn't -- actually I couldn't, try as I might -- and he's now given up 23 earned runs in his past five games. Yeah, he could get things straightened out, but once he does, you'll then be fretting over how many innings the Yankees are going to let him throw this year.

Tired of him getting squeezed out of the Giants catcher scene thanks to the arrival of Buster Posey, I finally cut bait with Bengie Molina in the two-catcher Hurler league on Tuesday. Didn't seem like too much of a loss. The guy had posted only three home runs and 17 RBI so far this season. But then two days later -- before Molina had even cleared waivers, of course -- San Fran ships him off to a better lineup and a friendlier ballpark in Texas, where his numbers are almost guaranteed to improve. Obviously, he was claimed by another manager. That's not even the worst part. The player I cut Molina for was Rangers backstop Matt Treanor, who has now lost his job to the guy I just dropped.

You see why I hate love really mostly hate this game? You see why I'm compelled to write about it here? It's the only way to exorcise the demons.

We have a weird rule in my big-money league: A trade between two managers isn't completely binding until approved by the commissioner. What this means is that if Manager A agrees to trade Roy Halladay to Manager B for David Wright on a Tuesday night, but then Wright breaks both of his ankles in a tragic collision with his left fielder on Wednesday before the commish has approved the trade, Manager A has the right to request that the trade be rejected. And it will be.

I'm pretty sure this is backwards from how most leagues do it. Honestly, I can't even remember why we wrote the rule this way in our league constitution. (Yes, we have a league constitution. I run a freakin' fantasy baseball blog, for crying out loud. Are you surprised?) But for whatever reason, we decided that a trade would be binding between two managers not when they agree to trade and hit that "accept" button, but rather when the commissioner hits the "approve" button.

-- So we haven't had a new post up in more than a week ... which is much too long. Sorry about that. If you haven't noticed. it's been mostly just me posting for a while now. First half of last week, I was on vacation and returned home to find Bloguin knee-deep in a server switch. Rather than posting new content that could disappear during the move, I figured it would be best to wait until I got an all clear from the network. We did lose a few forum posts in the intervening days, but everything's running smoothly now. So let's resume our regularly scheduled programming ...

-- Tim Lincecum lasted only three innings against the Red Sox today. He's obviously still an elite fantasy starter, but he's putting considerably more guys on base this year, allowing more to cross the plate and striking out less. I just knew this would happen once the man took away his pot.

-- 2010's most under-appreciated fantasy stud could end up being Colby Rasmus. The sensational sophomore belted his 16th home run this afternoon. That's one more than Pujols, Fielder and Howard have posted.

-- You know who else went yard? Joey Votto. I promised 30 home runs from the man (check the comments), and barring injury, it's looking more and more like he'll have no problem getting there. I love it when my man-crushes prove to be worthy of my undying affection.

-- I wish Elvis Andrus would start stealing bases again. Seven in April. Eleven in May. Only three so far in June.

-- Fantasy Sports Weather is a new website that offers up daily fantasy advice based on the weather. Good idea for a site and worth a look.