-- Alright, I have been thinking this for a while but a situation occurred where I can finally voice this opinion with definitive reason: Yahoo's fantasy baseball service officially sucks. There is less flexibility in Yahoo's service than in the actual major leagues. Last night was a prime example of the infuriating nature of their service. During the afternoon, I hear on the radio that the Cubs are calling up their top prospect, Starlin Castro, for the series in Cincy against the Reds. Upon hearing this news, I go to my keeper league website on CBS, pick him up and insert him into the starting lineup for the evening's games looking to profit on an auspicious debut. One HR, six RBIs, and a major league record later, I gain some much needed ground and am rewarded handsomely for my move. In the Hurler league, which resides on Yahoo, Castro is nowhere to be found. First, even if he were listed on the player list, he could not be inserted into a lineup until the next day. More annoyingly, he's not even on the player list. Dude sets a record for most RBI in a debut and Yahoo owners can't even benefit from it. There is no good reason for some top prospects to be unavailable when others are off limits. Justin Smoak Ike Davis was unavailable until almost a week into his MLB career. But guys like Stephen Strasburg, Madison Bumgarner, and Aroldis Chapman? Sure, go ahead because they are right there for the taking. On draft day.

I have been holding onto Aroldis Chapman all year on two of my three rosters in the hopes he starts a dozen games in Volquezian fashion a la 2008. If I am willing to assume the risk of a dead roster spot for two to three months, I should also then be able to reap the reward from it if when the player begins to generate stats. I am fully aware that there are differing schools of thought on this strategy and each case has its own merits, but players should at least have the choice to make. For a team's top prospect to not even be in the player pool when the damn GM of the team said it was just a matter of time before he'd be called up is inexcusable. Screw. You. Yahoo.

-- The folks at Yahoo have been slyly updating the layout of their fantasy baseball sites this week (league pages, team pages, etc). Most of it's subtle, but the changes are leading to some strange glitches, most notably these random spaces that are appearing in messages on league boards. I'm also now getting an email notification every time someone posts a message on any of my league homepages. I could do without that. Hope there's going to be a way to turn it off.

-- Chris Young has a hit in 13 of his last 14 games, raising his average from .236 to .306. I now wished I would have picked him up instead of Fukudome.

-- I recently acquired Buster Posey in a weekly lineup league, and I gotta say, I'm worried about his playing time once he gets the call. It will be very interesting to see how the Giants balance Posey, Bengie Molina and Aubrey Huff.

-- To those owning Jacoby Ellsbury in a weekly league, it looks like you'll be able to get him back in your lineup not this coming week, but the one after.

-- Speaking of Red Sox OFs, J.D. Drew is a one-man home-plate-crossing machine. He's scored 10 runs in Boston's last seven games. Three taters over that time, too.

-- I'm playing catchup in ERA and WHIP in the Hurler league, so imagine how thrilled I was to see James Shields (8 IP, 2 ER), Ian Kennedy (6 2/3, 0 ER) and Ervin Santana (7 IP, 1 ER) all pitch excellent games on Monday. Then imagine how badly I wanted to put my fist through my monitor when I realized it all was for naught thanks to Clayton Kershaw (1 1/3 IP, 7 ER). "Kershaw," by the way, is the sound made when a team collectively gives up on a game all at the same time. In this case, you could hear it just after the Prince Fielder home run. BTW, Kennedy should be owned in all leagues at this point.

-- Jason Heyward left Wednesday's game with a groin injury. Doesn't sound too bad, but Heyward owners might want to say a little prayer tonight just in case. Or if you're Wiccan and want to cast some type of healing incantation, that works, too. It's too bad; Tomahawk Jesus had been rakin' again.

-- Another 0-for-4 Wednesday for Adam Jones, who I honestly thought was going to break out in a big way this season. In fact, Andruw Jones has the stats I thought Adam might have. And Adam has the stats everybody assumed Andruw would have. Weird.

-- I like how, even on Tim Lincecum's bad days, he still strikes 13 hitters out.

-- Elvis Andrus is running again -- three steals in the last two days, 10 total. Thank god I I drafted him for the team where I've also got Jacoby Ellsbury.

-- Chris Snyder has been so good in Miguel Montero's absence, I'm kind of wondering what A.J. Hinch is going to do when Montero returns. We could have an even timeshare on our hands, which would be shitty for anyone who owns either player.

Let's play a little game. I'm going to tell you some of the picks I made this year in my big-money league, and afterward you get to guess what place I'm currently in. Ready? Here we go ...

In the first round, I selected Prince Fielder, he of the two home runs. In the second round, I took Jacoby Ellsbury, he of the broken ribs. In the fourth round, I drafted Curtis Granderson, who had one great week, sucked the rest of the April and now finds himself on the DL. In the sixth round, I nabbed Gordon Beckham, who has only four more RBI than I do in 2010. In the eighth round, I jumped on Adam Jones, who's currently posting a .267 OBP. (And, yes, this is a league that counts OBP instead of AVG.) I didn't draft a starting pitcher at all until the seventh round, when I took Chad Billingsley, who's sporting a 4.85 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP. I filled my catcher's slot with Mike Napoli in the 11th round.

So, based on that information, what place would you guess I'm currently occupying in a competitive 14-team league? You'd have to think bottom half, right? Perhaps you even guessed 10th or lower. I probably would have. Believe it or not, the answer is fourth place. Right as the calendar turns to May, when fantasy baseball standings actually start to mean something, the team that features these players sits comfortably near the top.

-- If you go back and look at our Opening Day Live Blog, I'm pretty sure that somewhere in there you can find me saying that "Kelly Johnson sucks." Well, thank god I ignore my own advice. I jumped on Johnson early on in the Hurler league when another manager cut bait -- after all, you can't write off anyone with potential in a 12-team league where managers start an MI in addition to 2B and SS -- and the dude's now one of my anchors. I'm so sorry, Kelly. Please forgive me.

-- I've got a feeling Jason Heyward's first month is going to be pretty indicative of what his whole season will look like: Bright, blinding flashes of awesome potential followed by 1-for-20 streaks.

-- Ian Stewart's batting average finally fell below .300. Still, his owners are likely doing little happy dances and saying, "Told ya he'd be awesome, Bob!" But two of his home runs came on the first two days of the season, with only two since. And we'll see where the BA is after another three weeks. I'm not giving up this battle yet.

-- Edwin Jackson's line tonight:  11 hits, 2 walks, 10 runs, in 2 1/3 innings. He did give you the two strikeouts. If you started him, may God have mercy on your soul, cause he certainly had no pity for your WHIP.

-- And if you tossed Trevor Hoffman out there on the same team, please remember: there are people you can call who will listen to you and guide you through these nightmarish times.

-- Anyone else pick up Evan Meek (Pittsburgh), Alfredo Simon (Baltimore), Koji Uehara (also Baltimore, and I actually owned him already), or Carlos Villanueva tonight? And I see Jason Motte is in instead of Ryan Franklin. Actually, Franklin pitched the last two days, so that must be it.

For a handful of years last decade, Vernon Wells and Barry Zito were at the top of the game and because of that, at the top of our game. Wells had a reputation as a slick-fielding center fielder with 30-HR pop; a top pick in many drafts and considered a franchise player on his own team and likely would have been the same on many others. Zito, a durable lefty with one of the best breaking balls in the majors, led the Oakland A's rotation for years even when GM Billy Beane was shipping off his many ace pitchers for prospect packages seemingly every chance he got.

While Toronto and Oakland aren't exactly places where you gain world-wide recognition for solid performance, Zito and Wells were fully entrenched on every fantasy owner's draft board and considered roster staples in leagues of all sizes. Zito strung together several years of above average pitching, posting solid ERA, WHIP and strikeout numbers. Wells seemed good for at least a .270 average with nice runs, RBI and a handful of steals, while guaranteeing 20+ HR with a chance at 30. Not that they were without faults. Wells never showed he could be a patient hitter, failing to draw a walk more than 9% of his plate appearances in any full major league season. Zito even at his best was a durable command lefty who was going to need a good defense behind him to pitch well.

-- Live, streaming HD games from MLB.TV are perhaps the greatest sports-related things I have ever witnessed from a computer. The picture is remarkable, and it tells me when my guys are batting. When games are on, it's hard to leave the house. House projects are already backing up.

-- Remember what I said about six weeks ago about Joe Mauer's power? Know how many HRs he has had since Opening Day? Exactly three fewer than Alberto Callaspo. I'm thinking Mauer has about 12 to 15 left in his bat from here on out. That 5-for-6 on Saturday was pretty nice, though.

-- The catching platoon in Colorado is exactly what is needed to keep Miguel Olivo from hitting .225. He has been rock solid while playing three to four games per week and has been a nice option in mixed leagues.  So far, Chris Ianetta is getting all the 0-for-4s. Ianetta reminds me of J.R. Towles -- hyped as all get out but terribly disappointing (and disappointingly terrible). Might be time to cut bait soon on Ianetta.

-- Now that Jason Heyward looks as if he's going to be the real deal, an instant-impact fantasy player, it seems everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon and find themselves a rookie. There's gold in them thar Triple-A hills! So if you missed out on Tomahawk Jesus, step right up and grab yourself an Ike Davis! He's the next Heyward, after all. What's that? You missed out on Davis? Well, then here's a Justin Smoak. He's even better than Ike!

Look, people, I don't have a problem with you picking either of those guys up. I just grabbed Ike in my money league and should have snatched Smoak in the Hurler league, where I am was a Chris Davis owner. But just as I did with Heyward, I'm going to urge caution against dreaming too big when it comes to these kids. Yes, owning them could have a positive impact on your fantasy team. But don't expect them to jump from the minors straight into the Hall of Fame while dropping a fantasy title in your lap along the way. They're just rookies after all. They're going to struggle at times. Let us not forget that even Heyward's batting average is down to .250.

-- Dallas Braden is now 3-0 and sporting a nifty set of numbers -- 2.77 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, .198 BAA -- yet still no one seems to believe in him. Honestly, I think it's because of his Yahoo mugshut:

See what I mean? That looks like a dude you want to punch, not a guy you wish you owned.

-- Adam Jones is now sporting a .227 OBP on the season. No, not batting average. OBP!

-- Meanwhile, Gordon Beckham is still stuck on three RBI, while Blue Jays shortstop Alex Gonzalez inexplicably has 13. You can't plan for this stuff, ya know?