You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

That's what Boston Red Sox fans think of Jacoby Ellsbury, their leadoff hitter that helped them bring another World Series title to Boston this past fall and suddenly bolted for the hated New York Yankees in free agency.

The new Yankee leadoff hitter is ranked by some sites as a top-ten pick in fantasy baseball drafts. That could be a little generous, but Ellsbury has shown before that he can certainly be a great asset to your team.

Ellsbury, a career .297 hitter, will consistently hit for average. What he does best, however, is steal bases. He led all of baseball in steals last season with 52, and had a career-high of 70 stolen bases in 2009. He should definitely hit around .300 for you and should be a lock to steal 40 or more bases if he can stay healthy.

One thing that has not been so consistent for Ellsbury is power numbers. In 2011, he hit a whopping 32 home runs, leading some to believe that he could become a perennial 30-30 threat. Believe it or not, that was the only time in his career that he even hit double digits in homers. Oh, baseball.

Fenway Park is kind to left-handed hitters like Ellsbury, but maybe no diamond is as kind as Yankee Stadium: Ellsbury's new home. Again, if he can stay healthy (he has battled injury issues in two of the past four seasons, which could be a red flag), he may be able to crack double digits in dingers for the second time.

Also, being a leadoff hitter, Ellsbury should be able to score a decent amount of runs. With a re-tooled Yankees lineup behind him, expect him to cross the plate around 100 times this year.

There are other outfielders like Mike Trout, Andrew McCutchen or even Adam Jones that still may put up better numbers all around than Ellsbury, but he should still help you out in certain categories. The first round is a definite reach especially because of the outfield depth in this year's fantasy pool, but if he is on the board in the middle-to-late second round, give him a shot.

Season Projections: .290 average, 12 HR, 53 RBI, 49 SB, 97 R