Fantasy Baseball Injury Rankings: Yu Darvish and Ozzie Albies deserve a position still, according to the Top 40 IL stashes.

With only a month left in the season, it stands to reason that any remaining IL stash is nothing more than a hope and a prayer. There is simply no margin for error in a player’s recovery, and even the ones on track return in 2-3 weeks may not have time to regain your trust before the season is done.

That’s why I usually go for the more influential player when given the choice between having a longer timetable or not. When he’s out of an IL spot, I want to know if I’ll genuinely want him on my active roster. In light of this, Tommy John surgery patient Jacob deGrom has started a rehabilitation assignment and appears committed to finishing it quickly. Ozzie Albies, who suffered a fractured wrist, is almost ready to resume hitting with a bat after switching from a hard to a soft cast. They probably won’t be useful to me for the next two weeks, but if all goes according to plan, they might be extremely important in the last two.

The whole point of an IL spot is to hold onto the players who could actually make a difference without crippling yourself in the short term, so let’s make sure we do that.

Hopefully, you did with Jared Jones, who returned return Tuesday after missing nearly two months with a strained lat. He struck out 10 over five one-hit innings in his final rehab start and could be a league-winner in the season’s final month. He would have been in the top five if he still qualified for these rankings.