Jacoby Ellsbury May Provide Fantasy Value w/ Injury

Jacoby Ellsbury is still sitting out with a strained oblique muscle and will likely miss a week of spring training action. Ellsbury claims he will be ready for Opening Day, which is a great sign for the New York Yankees, so how will that affect him in your fantasy drafts? Many know how the Yankees tend to downplay their injuries and I think we all know your draft will be over before we know the truth so how will this affect his stock? Will many stay away from in the earlier rounds simply because of the risk?

Any time Ellsbury has an injury you have to worry because he has not been the poster child for durability in his career. Ellsbury has been reasonably healthy for the past two seasons so like AJ Burnett maybe he has finally put it together but it's hard to know if you're drafting that player or the player that played in 18 games in 2010 and 74 games in 2012.

If Ellsbury is there in the first few rounds I am personally taking him but you may be able to grab him later than normal with the injury concerns. Oblique injuries are tough to manage and could pop back up at any moment so I'm saying take the risk because it should be a lesser risk than normal with the injury.