Next week marks the unofficial halfway point of the MLB season – the All-Star game. I'll be spending the day with the wife and my two kids, weaving our way across parts of Washington, Oregon and Idaho en route to our vacation destination in Sun Valley. Since I'll be in a car for 12 hours with restless kids (both under six years old) in 90-degree heat next Tuesday, you can count on this column taking full advantage of the mid-summer break. I'll still be on vacation early the following week, but I'll try to get something out the door while I'm away. Until then, here's a look at my fantasy All-Stars for '09, based on production compared to where they were valued back in preseason drafts:

1B: Albert Pujols(notes) – In this case, I don't care that Pujols was a consensus top three pick back in March, he's easily been the best offensive player in '09, and he's currently No. 4 on the Keys to Success list, the list of players who appear most often on the top 500 Public League teams in Yahoo!

July is upon us, meaning that the MLB trading deadline is officially one month away. As an owner of a very bad team with the No. 1 waiver priority in an AL-only league and an owner of a struggling NL-only team with the third-richest FAAB bank roll remaining, I'm hoping for a flurry of deals that will send players across league boundaries – I already lost out in the bidding for Mark DeRosa(notes) on Monday, which is why I'm now the third-richest NL-only squad as opposed to the fourth-richest.

So who are the names I'm pining for? Here's a list of some of the players that are prominently rumored to be available for the right price in the coming weeks: Vernon Wells(notes), Alex Rios(notes), Matt Holliday(notes), Victor Martinez(notes), Jermaine Dye(notes), Adam Dunn(notes), Garrett Atkins(notes), Aubrey Huff(notes), Nick Johnson(notes), Mark Teahen(notes), Juan Pierre(notes), Felipe Lopez(notes), Ty Wigginton(notes), Roy Oswalt(notes), Cliff Lee(notes), Erik Bedard(notes) and Jose Valverde

Last week, I used Ichiro(notes) to illustrate the value of players that contribute extremely to one category. I thought I would flip things this week and look at the one-category killers.

For this exercise, I limited candidates to only those hitters owned in 90 percent of Yahoo! PLUS leagues. For pitchers, I went with those that are 80 percent owned (or more) in those Y! leagues. And, I've limited the categories here to just the ratios (batting average, ERA, WHIP). So, without further ado, here are the Dwight Howards (most roto hoopers know how his FT% leaves a mark) of fantasy baseball '09, ranked in order of negative fantasy impact, according to Baseball Monster:

1. Ricky Nolasco's(notes) 7.15 ERA in 61.1 IP – He's been much better in June (2.50 ERA), but his fantasy owners are still digging themselves out of a hole left by Nolasco's 9.07 ERA through the first two months of the season.
2. Francisco Liriano's(notes) 5.91 ERA in 77.2 IP – Like Nolasco, there's been improvement (3.79

In the Yahoo! Friends and Family League, I'm pulling 11 points in batting average out of 14 teams. This despite carrying some pretty heavy dead weight in the BA category – Russell Martin(notes) (.244 in 205 ABs); Jose Lopez(notes) (.247 in 235 ABs); Josh Hamilton(notes) (.240 in 125 ABs); CoCo Crisp(notes) (.228 in 180 ABs); Mike Aviles(notes) (.183 in 120 ABs); Eric Byrnes(notes) (.223 in 103 ABs); and a combined contribution of .193 from Adam Kennedy(notes), Ty Wigginton(notes), Chad Tracy(notes) and Seth Smith(notes) in 171 ABs.

How I've managed to bubble to the top of the league in batting average despite getting a .226 contribution from the collective above – which has accounted for 42 percent of my team's at bats – can be summed up in two names: Ichiro(notes) and Jason Bartlett(notes). They are two of just three players hitting .360 or better in 150-plus at bats – Joe Mauer(notes) being the other.

Ichiro, in particular, is well known for his batting average prowess in fantasy

The Skinny took the week off last week as the Yahoo! fantasy contingent convened in Santa Monica to map out our fantasy football content plans, work on our shuffleboard skills and run up as many charges on Brad Evans' bar tab as humanly possible – mission accomplished. As Murphy's Law would dictate, it turned out to be a pretty eventful week in my absence, with a major trade (Nate McLouth(notes)) and a couple noteworthy callups (Andrew McCutchen(notes), Gordon Beckham(notes)). With notable debuts coming fast and furious over the past few weeks, the stock of buzz-worthy, major league-ready prospects is getting pretty slim. Of course, that doesn't mean there's nothing left to talk about. Let's get to it …

CORNER INFIELDERS

Three Up/Three Down
Andy LaRoche(notes), Pit, 3B – 21 run: 29-for-80 (.363), 1 HR, 16 RBI, 15 R, 1 SB in past 21 games
Nick Swisher(notes), NYY, 1/O – June boon: 9-for-21 (.429), 2 HR, 6 RBI, 5 R, 6 BB, 8 games
Adrian Beltre(notes), Sea, 3B – Sexy 17: 25-for-72 (.347), 2

If I needed a reminder of how fast the fantasy baseball world can move, I got it while working up this latest Skinny column. In the time it took me to finish writing, two players (Matt Wieters(notes) and Fernando Martinez(notes)) that I had chosen for this week's "Prospecting" sections got called up, forcing me to re-work those graphs. The way things were going, I thought about prolonging the column even longer in hopes that news that Tommy Hanson(notes) was headed to Atlanta developed. Alas, Hanson remains in Gwinnett County (which is about a 30-minute commute to Atlanta) and now takes Wieters' place as most enticing '09 fantasy prospect on the farm. Better luck next week, Tommy …

CORNER INFIELDERS

Three Up/Three Down
Joe Crede(notes), Min, 3B – Power source: 13-for-47 (.277), 5 HR, 14 RBI, 6 R in past 12
Jerry Hairston Jr.(notes), Cin, 3/2/S/O – 25-for-78 (.321), 4 HR, 10 RBI, 21 R, 4 SB in past 19
Todd Helton(notes), Col, 1B – Five alive: 8-for-20 (.400), 2 HR, 9 RBI, 4 R in past 5

This will be my last Skinny column written at the spry, young age of 38. This Memorial Day my biological clock ticks one notch closer to the big Four-0. I'll celebrate the occasion by logging a weekend softball tournament, which means that, come the following Tuesday, when I sit down to write the next of these columns, I'm sure to be feeling every bit my age. But, when that time comes, I'll turn to Steve Finley(notes) and Pete Rose for inspiration – the only two players in major league history to play a full 162-game slate at the age of 39. Unfortunately, no 40-year-old player has ever played 162 games, but I'll worry about that next year … Enjoy the holiday weekend ahead, folks …

CORNER INFIELDERS

Three Up/Three Down
Casey Blake(notes), LAD, 1/3 – Lucky 13: 18-for-46 (.391), 4 HR, 11 RBI, 13 R in past 13
Andy LaRoche(notes), Pit, 3B – Sweet 16: 16-for-53 (.302), 2 HR, 10 RBI, 10 R in past 16
Nick Johnson(notes), Was, 1B – Elite 8: 12-for-27 (.444), 2 HR, 12 RBI, 8 R, 8 BB, 4 K in past 8

I apologize for last week's Skinny absence – I was leading the Funston family pack around Disneyland. Frankly, with media pets Manny Ramirez(notes) (suspension), Alex Rodriguez(notes) (return) and Brett Favre (unretire?) dominating sports news coverage last week, it wasn't a bad time to insulate myself behind the walls of the Mouse House. Refreshed after numerous Splash Mountain and Soarin' California rides, I'm ready to dive back in to the ups and downs of fantasy baseball. And I'll keep with the format change that I went with the last time out, as it was met with a positive overall response. Alright, let's get to it …

CORNER INFIELDERS

Three Up/Three Down
Casey Kotchman(notes), Atl, 1B – 11-for-26 (.423) with 2 HR and 10 RBI in past week.
Carlos Delgado(notes), NYM, 1B – On slump-busting 10-for-22 (.455, HR, 7 RBI, 6 R) ride in past week
Billy Butler(notes), KC, 1B – Dandy dozen: 18-for-45 (.400), 2 HR, 10 RBI, 11 R, 3 BB, 3 K in past 12

Garrett Atkins(notes), Col, 1/3 – 4-for-33