On September 2nd, 2009, Yunel Escobar clubbed a ninth-inning home run against the Florida Marlins. The Atlanta shortstop took a 96 MPH Leo Nunez fastball, thrown on the outside corner, over the right field fence for his 14th jack of the season.

Escobar hasn’t gone deep since. Dating back to last year, Yunel’s homerless streak has reached 377 plate appearances. 2010 has been trying offensively for the 27-year-old — Escobar’s hitting just .242/.346/.286 in 265 PA, with a .301 wOBA and a minuscule .044 ISO.

Because of his slick D (+9.5 UZR/150), he has still been an asset to the Braves with 1.2 WAR on the season. But he’s falling short of the expectations fantasy owners had. Escobar hit a combined .301/.375/.426 over the 2007-2009 seasons, posting a .352 wOBA and a .125 ISO. ZiPS thought he’d bat .294/.365/.416 in 2010, with a .347 wOBA and a .122 ISO, while CHONE projected a .294/.369/.429 triple-slash, a .352 wOBA and a .135 ISO. What’s causing Escobar’s feeble offensive output?

Part of his slump can be explained by a .279 batting average on balls in play, well below his career .319 BABIP. Escobar is hitting infield flies 12.5% this season, compared to a 4.9% career average and the 7-8% MLB average. That doesn’t help matters, but little else has changed in his batted ball profile. Escobar’s BABIP on ground balls is .204 in 2010, compared to a career .235 average. His BABIP on fly balls is .121, while his career clip is .204. His expected BABIP is .321, suggesting he has been more of a .280 hitter than a .240’s type.

That still doesn’t explain the power outage, however. No matter what field he hits to, Escobar is showing precious little pop:

Nothing at all is happening when Escobar puts the ball in the air. He had a .426 ISO on fly balls on 2007, a .339 ISO in 2008 and a .409 ISO in 2009. This season, he’s got a .089 ISO when he lofts one. He has never been much of a power hitter, but the total lack of thump is mystifying. Escobar did have a back problem in spring training and served a DL stint for left groin strain in May, so perhaps he’s still battling injury problems.

Escobar is characteristically controlling the strike zone, with a 21.7 outside swing percentage (28.5% MLB average) and a 13.2% walk rate. And, he’ll almost certainly hit for a higher average during the rest of the season. But fantasy owners would surely appreciate it if he would end that dinger drought.

Sitting here on the empty floor of my new home in California, my future is cloudy. It seems like it’s time to make a run and living, and writing, in the best state in the union (apologies New York, but take away one city and you fall behind a bit). Why live if not while doing the thing you love in your favorite place? Oh, and it’s time to update the shortstop rankings since it’s been a while since we last visited that part of the diamond. That much I do know.

The Big Three:
1. Hanley Ramirez, Florida (.383 wOBA, .404 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
2. Jose Reyes, New York NL (.334 wOBA, .360 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
3. Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia (.378 wOBA, .352 ZiPS RoS wOBA)

It really looks like it’s time to do this. Derek Jeter is on pace to break his own personal record in ground balls, isn’t stealing bases at the clip that he manages in his good years, and isn’t putting up the other-worldly BABIPs of recent years. At his age, he’s always a candidate to slow down, and suddenly it seems like this is the year. If he isn’t going to have the plus batting average, his poor home run and stolen base totals look a lot less exciting.

As wrong as we might have been for pushing Jeter into the top tier for his excellent start, we were as right about keeping Jose Reyes near the top despite his poor first month. After an excellent June, Reyes looks like the man he used to be, and when he bags an extra 25 steals or so over Jeter, he’ll overcome any other advantages the elder New York shortstop has on him.

Another move at the top brings a healthy Rollins into the fold. He’s been a top-3 guy for some time, but his main fault is always there: he’s a bit of a batting average risk year-in and year-out. If the legs are iffy this year, he’s a risk to drop still.

The Next Best Thing:
4. Derek Jeter, New York AL (.338 wOBA, .353 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
5. Elvis Andrus, Texas (.333 wOBA, .331 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
6. Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay (.359 wOBA, .360 ZiPs RoS wOBA)
7. Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado (.386 wOBA, .368 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
8. Stephen Drew, Arizona (.334 wOBA, .338 ZiPS RoS wOBA)

Other than Jeter moving down, this tier is fairly uneventful. Andrus looks good, and with his speed might be able to maintain some of his strong BABIP, but he has almost negative power. All those grass guzzlers won’t turn into home runs any time soon, no matter how fast he is. Zobrist is looking like a Jeter-lite, or maybe a young Jeter, but the runs totals aren’t quite there yet. Drew is having a tough year, beset with injuries and some struggles against lefties. Not quite the peak year breakout that seemed like it could be on the way. We’ll keep him around for his upside a little longer, but not a whole lot longer.

The Leftovers:
9. Rafael Furcal, Los Angeles NL (.384 wOBA, .344 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
10. Alexei Ramirez, Chicago AL (.294 wOBA, .328 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
11. Erick Aybar, Los Angeles (.315 wOBA, .322 ZiPs RoS wOBA)
12. Yunel Escobar, Atlanta (.301 wOBA, .336 ZiPS wOBA)
13. Marco Scutaro, Boston (.328 wOBA, .348 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
14. Miguel Tejada, Baltimore (.307 wOBA, .332 ZiPS wOBA)
15. Ian Desmond, Washington (.291 wOBA, .319 ZiPs RoS wOBA)
16. Alex Gonzalez, Toronto (.344 wOBA, .302 ZiPs RoS wOBA)

It’s time to drop Jason Bartlett from the list. He’s losing time to Reid Brignac versus righties, and even if his BABIP regresses and gets his batting average up closer to .280, he’s just not showing any power and has three stolen bases on the year. Not much to like there.

We keep looking for a reason to move Alcides Escobar back onto the list, but at least Ian Desmond is playing every day and providing a tiny bit of power and speed for his owners. Miguel Tejada, on the other hand, might be seeing his long run of consecutive starts come to an end if upstart prospect Josh Bell can show his stuff at the major league level. Baltimore is, of course, looking to the future, and Tejada won’t be a part of that future.

Now that 20-year-old Starlin Castro is the Chicago Cubs’ starting shortstop, Ryan Theriot has shifted to second base and again holds position eligibility on both sides of the DP combo. And, for the first time in a few years, he’s stealing bases at an efficient rate. Theriot went 28-for-32 in SB attempts during his first year as a starter in 2007, adding about 3.4 runs of value according to Baseball Prospectus’ Equivalent Stolen Base Runs metric. But he went 22-for-35 in 2008 (-3.5 EQSBR) and 21-for-31 last season (-2.6 EQSBR). In 2010, Theriot has swiped 15 bases in 18 tries, with +1.1 EQSBR so far. He’s running, and running well, when he gets the chance. Unfortunately, Theriot’s getting on base at a career-low-clip.

In 314 PA, the 30-year-old has a .280/.321/.307 line, with a paltry .289 wOBA. Never known for driving the ball, Theriot has a .027 Isolated Power that falls short of his very modest .074 career ISO. The fact that he has all of seven extra-base hits this season clearly contributes to his feeble offensive output. But another reason why Theriot’s bat has been nearly 11 runs below average is his declining walk rate.

Theriot took ball four 8.9% of the time from 2007-2009, slightly above the average big league walk rate. This year, he’s walking in just 5.1% of his PA. Is he expanding his strike zone by swinging at more pitches thrown off the plate? Slightly, but it’s hardly a dramatic increase. Here are Theriot’s outside swing percentages in recent seasons, as well as the MLB average for each season. The last column shows Theriot’s O-Swing as a percentage of the big league average:

If Theriot’s not hacking at more pitcher’s pitches, then why has his walk rate dipped? For starters, opponents are throwing him more pitches within the strike zone:

Pitchers have long challenged the former LSU Tiger with in-zone offerings, but he’s getting more pitches over the plate than ever before. Unfortunately, Theriot is having a hard time recognizing balls from strikes. According to StatCorner, the percentage of pitches that he has taken for a strike has increased this year. Theriot has taken 38.6% of pitches for a strike in 2010, compared to 33% in ’09, 36.1% in ’08 and 37.7% in ’07 (the MLB average is 31%).

Pitchers are throwing Theriot more strikes, and he’s keeping the bat on his shoulder more often against those strikes. It’s no surprise, then, that Theriot’s often ending up in pitcher’s counts. His first pitch strike percentage is 66.9 this season. That’s the fourth-highest rate among qualified MLB hitters and well above his 60.1% average from 2007 to 2009 (58-59% MLB average).

Opposing hurlers aren’t afraid of Theriot, and they reflect that confidence by pounding the zone against him. In order to return to his previous .290/.355/.360 range, Theriot needs to knock more than two extra-base hits a month and stop putting himself at the mercy of the pitcher.

Having acclimated himself to the majors reasonably well in 2009, Alcides Escobar became the Milwaukee Brewers’ long-term option at shortstop following the club’s decision to deal J.J. Hardy to the Minnesota Twins. Escobar entered 2010 as an intriguing fantasy option, given his upper-echelon speed and history of wreaking havoc on the base paths in the minors. Yet, the 23-year-old holds a roster spot in just 11 percent of Yahoo leagues. Escobar’s living up to his reputation in the field (+4.7 UZR/150), but not so much at the plate or on the bases. Let’s take a closer look at his performance this season.

Escobar put up a .304/.333/.368 line and a .311 wOBA in 134 plate appearances in 2009, without much in the way of walks (3 BB%) or power (.064 ISO). That was to be expected, though — the 6-1, 180 pound righty batter hit a cumulative .293/.333/.377 in the minors, with a five percent rate of free passes taken and a .084 ISO. Escobar did improve his offensive game as the climbed the ladder (.328/.363/.434, 5.2 BB%, .106 ISO in Double-A in 2008, .298/.353/.409, 6.6 BB% .111 ISO at Triple-A in 2009), but ZiPS and CHONE both projected a mild showing with the lumber:

ZiPS: .279/.321/.378, 5.4 BB%, .099 ISO, .315 wOBA
CHONE: .291/.334/.389, 5.2 BB%, .098 ISO, .322 wOBA

Thus far, Escobar has fallen short of those forecasts. He’s got a .246/.298/.340 triple-slash in 268 PA, with a .285 wOBA. His bat has been -8.1 runs below average already. While hardly a model of plate patience, Escobar hasn’t been a total hacker, with a 6.7 BB% and a 29.8 outside swing percentage (28.4% MLB average). He’s also hitting with the same authority as CHONE and ZiPS projected, which is to say, little (.094 ISO).

The reason Escobar’s wOBA thirty to forty points lower than predicted is his .272 BABIP. From ’05 to ’09, Alcides had a .346 BABIP in the minors, and his BABIP with the Brewers last season was .346. ZiPS projected a .323 BABIP for Escobar this season, while CHONE had a .340 estimate. His expected BABIP, based on his rate of homers, K’s, stolen bases, line drives, fly balls, pop ups and ground balls, is .309.

To this point, Escobar’s line drives have fallen for hits at a clip well below the NL average. Less surprisingly, he has an above-average BABIP on grounders, and little happens when he hits a fly ball:

(Numbers from Baseball-Reference)

Escobar will likely see his BABIP climb in the months to come, but it’s anyone’s guess what he’ll do once he reaches base. He stole 34 bases in 42 tries with Huntsville in 2008, and nabbed 42 bags in 52 attempts with Nashville in 2009. ZiPS projected 25 steals in 2010, and CHONE 26. Yet, Escobar has attempted just six steals so far, getting caught once. It’s a strange development for a guy Baseball America called “a constant threat to steal bases.”

Considering his defensive gifts, Alcides Escobar should be a quality starter for the Brewers as long as he manages to avoid being a total zero at the plate. But to gain favor in fantasy formats, he’ll need to use his wheels more often.

The Rockies were dealt a major blow this afternoon when they learned that homegrown star Troy Tulowitzki will miss the next six to eight weeks with a fractured wrist. Fantasy teams everywhere will feel Colorado’s pain, because few shortstops can match Tulo’s tremendous production.

There’s just no way to replace a player of this caliber, so the only thing you can do is hope to maintain the status quo. When dealing with a major injury like this, I usually just forget about the counting stats and make sure my replacement won’t kill my AVG and/or OBP. Shortstops that hit homers and drive in runs are rare anyway, so there’s no point in sacrificing rate stats while stabbing in the dark for counting ones that won’t come anyway.

Here’s three players on the waiver wire that could help you weather the storm…

Reid Brignac | Rays | 8% owned

Briggy Ball is playing regularly for Tampa with Jason Bartlett on the disabled list, and he’s quietly hit a respectable .297 with a .353 OBP going into Friday’s games. He’s enjoying some BABIP luck (.384), sure, but his minor league baseline isn’t too far off at .330 in exactly 2,700 plate appearances. There’s a regression on the horizon, but a .270 AVG with a .345 or so OBP is definitely possible for the next few weeks. (R) ZiPS isn’t as optimistic, calling for .252 AVG, .298 OBP the rest of the way. Brignac also has 2B eligibility.

Ian Desmond | Nationals | 24%

The man who displaced Cristian Guzman has been a valuable piece for the Nats based mostly on his defense (+4.6 UZR, +3 DRS), though his offense consists of an empty .268 AVG. However, he’s picked up the pace over the last few weeks, hitting .293 in his last 103 plate appearances prior to tonight’s 1-for-4. (R) ZiPS sees him maintaining that same .268 AVG the rest of the way, though he’s probably the safest bet for playing time among players mentioned in this post.

Jeff Keppinger | Astros | 16%

Seemingly the only source of offense for the punchless ‘Stros (seriously, a team .287 OBP), Keppinger has maintained his .286 AVG and .333 OBP basically all year long despite the lack of help. (R) ZiPS sees more of the same on the way, a .283 AVG and .335 OBP to be exact, which is more serviceable than greate. He also has 2B and 3B eligibility. Keppinger is playing every day for Houston, however they could go into sell mode at any moment, and he could find himself on a contender’s bench just like that.

Aside from direct replacement, you could also somewhat Tulo’s loss by improving another position. It’s easier said than done of course, but if you have some pitching depth to spare it can be done. The outfield is typically the easiest spot to accomplish this simply because there’s multiple spots.

Losing a player of Tulowitzki’s caliber is never easy, and there’s not much you can do other than tread water. Hopefully he’s back in six weeks rather than eight, and doesn’t need much time to shake off the rust.

Ownership rates are based on Yahoo! leagues.

A month has gone by since we last updated these rankings, but they haven’t changed too much. The position continues to be one of the toughest to fill in fantasy sports, and the bottom half of this list is comprised of some imperfect candidates, to say the least. But every team needs a shortstop, so let’s take a look.

The Big Three:
1. Hanley Ramirez, Florida (.367 wOBA, .402 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
2. Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado (.376 wOBA, .369 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
3. Derek Jeter, New York AL (.349 wOBA, .355 ZiPS RoS wOBA)

Jimmy Rollins has to drop out of this tier because of his injury issues. We don’t like to Wally Pipp anyone, but the reality of the situation is that he’s declining physically and his game relies on his athleticism. He’s not all about working the count and getting on base, so if the power and the legs start slipping, it could get a little ugly for Rollins owners.

The Next Best Thing:
4. Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia (.469 wOBA, .359 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
5. Jose Reyes, New York NL (.295 wOBA, .353 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
6. Elvis Andrus, Texas (.344 wOBA, .336 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
7. Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay (.377 wOBA, .359 ZiPs RoS wOBA)
8. Stephen Drew, Arizona (.356 wOBA, .341 ZiPS RoS wOBA)

This tier seems pretty uncontroversial. Some may still believe in Rollins, or have given up on Jose Reyes, but this is a solid group of shortstops. They shouldn’t hurt a fantasy team, in other words. Reyes may actually be the lightning rod for discussion, especially placed above a young phenom like Elvis Andrus, but he still retains more power upside than the younger shortstop, and there were some things to like with what Reyes was doing in the second half of May. If he can’t up the walk rate and rediscover his power stroke, though, he’ll move down the list. Andrus might also have some batting average regression coming. Stephen Drew is having a fine season, but with barely-above average power and little speed, he’s just missing those valuable counting stats to move up the list.

The Leftovers:
9. Rafael Furcal, Los Angeles NL (.326 wOBA, .328 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
10. Jason Bartlett, Tampa Bay (.299 wOBA, .328 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
11. Alexei Ramirez, Chicago AL (.290 wOBA, .327 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
12. Miguel Tejada, Baltimore (.298 wOBA, .332 ZiPS wOBA)
13. Yunel Escobar, Atlanta (.291 wOBA, .340 ZiPS wOBA)
14. Marco Scutaro, Boston (.329 wOBA, .352 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
15. Erick Aybar, Los Angeles (.288 wOBA, .316 ZiPs RoS wOBA)
16. Alex Gonzalez, Toronto (.348 wOBA, .300 ZiPs RoS wOBA)

Rafael Furcal and Jason Bartlett drop to this tier for different reasons. Furcal rewarded his owners with more time on the DL, and without the stolen bases he begins to look like an empty batting average. Bartlett isn’t even giving the batting average part of that equation, though, and would drop further down on the list if the rest of the list weren’t so craptastic in its own right. Asdrubal Cabrera will be back on the list when he returns in two months from his forearm fracture. Ryan Theriot, however, has to overcome a platoon situation at second base before he’ll be a valuable shortstop again. An honorable mention goes to Alcides Escobar, who has shown little flashes of his potential and has batted in the second hole some this past month, but the fact that he’s losing starts to Craig Counsell can’t be ignored.

It’s now summer by the American social clock (if not by the solstice calendar), and so you should be furiously checking your wire for injury replacements. It’s even time to start considering if a struggling player is ready to be dropped. We’re here to help.

Brett Myers, Astros (10% owned)
Myers is a flawed pitcher. He may never again reach the strikeout-per-inning numbers of his early career, and he’s lost some velocity off of those days as well. The good news is that the fastball was never his best pitch – in fact, it’s never even been a good pitch (-89.6 runs career, and never once positive by linear weights). He’s still got his nice curveball and slider, and he’s actually snapping that slider at a career pace (32% this year, 9.6% career). This will count as good news because not only is the pitch his best this year (+6.6 runs), but it’s also been his best non-curveball pitch in his career. If this ‘new’ Myers can stay healthy, he seems likely to continue to pitch to the talent level indicated by his 3.89 FIP. Flawed, but helpful in deep leagues. When his .324 BABIP comes down a little bit, his poor WHIP might even improve.

Cliff Pennington, Athletics (11% owned)
Here’s another flawed player for your pleasure. In fact, it’s possible he’s over-owned for a shortstop with an underwhelming .209/.291/.322 line. Of course, his BABIP is .245 and should rise, especially since he’s relatively fleet of foot (5.6 career speed score, six stolen bases this year). In other good news, his contact rates are all up across the board, and his zone contact rate (93.4%) is actually okay. His good line drive rate (21.4%) suggests that he may even be able to better his ZiPs RoS (.250/.324/.348) and break 20 steals overall. If someone in your AL-only league dropped him, he can give you a little something from here on out. Just a little.

Jerry Hairston Jr, Padres (5% owned)
Boy, hit one grand slam and suddenly you’re on waiver lists, eh? Of all the numbers that we may cite about Hairston, however, there is one that is the most important once you get into deep enough leagues: seven. As in, Hairston has started seven straight games for the Padres. This, despite Everth Cabrera’s return from the disabled list. Hairston’s defense is scratch at best (-7.9 UZR/150 in 109 career games at the position), but right now his offense is perculating (10 for his last 26) and the team is winning. And anyway, it’s not like Cabrera was a whiz with the glove anyway (-11 UZR/150 in 127 games at the position). The Padres might best be served being honest about the talent level on their team, and going with the guy that could provide more value for longer in Cabrera, but that’s an argument for another space.

All ownership numbers courtesy of Yahoo Fantasy Sports

In lieu of updating the shortstop rankings – that will come next weekend – it seemed like a good time to check in with a shortstop that seemed like a decent deep league value going into the season. Now, though, Everth Cabrera is looking like a sunk cost on most fantasy teams. Despite special wheels, owners are wondering if he even deserves a roster spot at this point.

Any discussion of Cabrera’s value has to start with strikeouts. Strikeouts are negatively correlated with batting average – that much should be obvious because the batting average on a strikeout is just about zero. Strikeouts aren’t all bad, since they are weakly but positively correlated with power, but power is not Cabrera’s game. He has a .099 ISO (.150 is about the major league average) and his power is even down from last year’s mediocre level.

Last year, Cabrera struck out 23.3% of the time and had a .106 ISO. Only Michael Bourn struck out more than 23% of the time and had an ISO under .130. In fact, only Bourn, Cabrera, B.J. Upton, Dexter Fowler, David Wright, Chase Headley and Mark Teahen had strikeout rates above 23% and below-average ISO at all. And at least two of those guys won’t be on that list this year as their power has recovered.

Cabrera’s power, on the other hand, has gone the other direction. He now has a .073 ISO, which would have been worse than any BA-title qualifying player that struck out over 20% last year other than Emilio Bonifacio. And it’s Bonifacio’s name that should really start striking the alarm bells. The combination of a high strikeout rate and no power is a toxic one that we’ve seen before.

Of course, Cabrera’s defense has the potential to separate him from Bonifacio. While Bonifacio struggled at third and second, Cabrera has the ability to man a key defensive position up the middle, which would alleviate some of the pressure put on the team by his below-average to average offense. Then again, the Friars’ shortstop put up a -13.4 UZR/150 last year, which would have been second-worst in baseball (to Yuniesky Betancourt) had he qualified for the batting title. This year, Cabrera is better (+1.6 UZR/15), and we know from a recent Tom Tango post at The Book Blog that it looks like we could be looking, generally, for about two and a half seasons of fielding data before we draw serious conclusions. For what it’s worth, Cabrera’s defense rated about scratch in the minor leagues.

With a little better BABIP luck (he currently has a .260 BABIP compared to .325 last year), his batting average could approach last year’s mediocre .255 number. With his reach rate climbing, and his strikeout rates steady and poor, that might just represent his upside in terms of batting average. Added to his declining power, this package is one that will never be a great option in fantasy. So it’s really all about his walk rate in the end – if he can return to walking about 10% of the time, he’ll get on base enough to flash the one tool fantasy owners really care about.

Unfortunately, since scratch defense at an important position doesn’t count in most fantasy leagues, Cabrera will most likely give back most of his value gained from stolen bases in his poor batting average and utter lack of power.

Minnesota Twins recalled SS Trevor Plouffe from Triple-A Rochester.

Plouffe, who will turn 24 in June, was the 20th overall pick in the 2004 draft. The California prep product touched the low-90’s on the mound, but the Twins liked his potential to develop into a quality defender at a premium position and handed him a $1.5 million bonus.

During his first three years in pro ball, Plouffe scuffled at the plate. He hit .283/.340/.380 in the Rookie-Level Appalachian League in ’04, then followed up with a .223/.300/.345 triple-slash in the Low-A Midwest League in 2005 and a .246/.333/.347 line in the High-A State Florida State League in 2006. Plouffe showed a decent eye in A-Ball, walking in about 10 percent of his plate appearances, but he didn’t hit with much authority.

Upon reaching the upper levels of the minors, Plouffe has taken more of a grip-it-and-rip-it approach. At the Double-A level, he batted .272/.326/.410, walking just 6.7 percent and bumping his Isolated Power to a still-modest .129. In Triple-A, Plouffe has an overall .267/.317/.427 line. He has drawn a walk 6.5 percent, with a .160 ISO.

While he has mostly played shortstop, Plouffe has also dabbled at second and third base to improve his appeal as a big league utility man. With Minnesota, Plouffe will provide an extra infield glove while J.J. Hardy (wrist) continues his rehab. The odds of Plouffe becoming a solid every day starter appear slim at this point, as his shortstop D hasn’t been as advertised and his bat projects as below-average–CHONE and ZiPS both had sub-.300 wOBA forecasts for him prior to 2010.

Milwaukee Brewers placed C Gregg Zaun (strained right shoulder) on the DL; purchased the contract of C Jonathan Lucroy

The Brew Crew’s third-round pick in the 2007 draft, Lucroy has generally shown fantastic plate discipline and mid-range pop during his minor league career. The Louisiana-Lafayette product, who will also turn 24 in June, beat up on less experienced pitching in the Rookie-Level Pioneer League in 2007. He then hit a combined .301/.377/.495 between the Low-A South Atlantic League and the High-A Florida State League in 2008, walking in 10.6 percent of his PA with a .194 ISO.

Last year, Lucroy moved up to the Double-A Southern League and posted a .267/.380/.418 line. His power declined against more advanced hurlers (.151 ISO), but he drew a free pass 15.4 percent of the time while lowering his K rate from 17.7 in ’08 to 15.6 in ’09.

He began 2010 back at Huntsville, but earned a promotion to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League after getting off to a .452/.500/.524 start in 47 PA. With Nashville, Lucroy has struggled in a small sample (.238/.265/.363 in 83 PA). If there’s any concern, it’s that he hasn’t shown his typically discerning eye: he has walked just 5.3 percent between the two levels. Given his track record, it’s probably just a blip on the radar.

Lucroy’s defense has drawn mixed reviews–before 2010, Baseball America said he “needs to improve his game-calling skills,” and that “scouts are divided over whether Lucroy projects as a regular or a backup in the majors.” For what it’s worth, Lucroy’s D rates well according to Sean Smith’s Total Zone system.

Prior to the season kicking off, CHONE projected a .250/.337/.382 line (.322 wOBA) in the bigs for Lucroy, while ZiPS envisioned a .245/.326/.378 (.316 wOBA) triple-slash. With Zaun out, Lucroy will get whatever playing time doesn’t go to George Kottaras. The former Padres and Red Sox prospect has a .237/.336/.402 rest-of-season ZiPS projection, with a .331 wOBA.

Don’t expect to see Asdrubal Cabrera take the field again anytime soon, as the switch-hitting shortstop suffered a broken left forearm last evening against the Rays. Cabrera collided with 3B Jhonny Peralta on a Hank Blalock ground ball hit up the middle (the infield was shifted for the lefty pull hitter). There’s no firm estimate on how much time he’ll miss, but Cabrera is likely headed for surgery.

The former M’s prospect was off to a mild start in 2010, batting .287/.322/.368 (.303 wOBA) in 149 plate appearances. Cabrera’s plate discipline was off-kilter, as he swung at 28.5 percent of pitches outside of the zone and took a hack at just 59.6 percent of in-zone pitches. For comparison, Cabrera’s career O-Swing is 24.7, and his Z-Swing is 65.7. Chasing more offerings off the dish and keeping the bat on the shoulder more often when the pitcher puts one in the strike zone is a recipe for fewer walks, and Cabrera’s rate of free passes taken was down to 4.7. Also, after nabbing 17 bases in 21 tries in 2009, Cabrera had just one SB and 2 CS in 2010.

In his place, the Indians will turn to a combination of Luis Valbuena and the recently recalled Jason Donald.

Valbuena, 24, has a career .235/.301/.387 triple-slash in 544 major league PA. The lefty hitter, himself a former Mariner, has shown decent secondary skills for a middle infielder (8.3 BB%, .152 ISO).

However, Valbuena has punched out 24.3 percent of the time and he has a track record of scuffling against southpaw pitching. During his minor league career, Valbuena had a .241/.319/.311 line vs. LHP. His managers have gone to great lengths to shield him from lefties in the majors: just 12 percent of his big league PA have come against same-side pitching. Questionable D at the keystone won’t help his big for more playing time, either (career -9.3 UZR/150 at 2B, and ugly numbers at short in a small sample of playing time). ZiPS projects a .247/.317/.377 line for Valbuena for the rest of the 2010 season, with a .308 wOBA.

Donald, meanwhile, was a part of the underwhelming collection of talent Cleveland acquired from Philadelphia in exchange for Cliff Lee in July of 2009. The Arizona product has a career .284/.371/.434 line as a minor leaguer, with a 10.3 percent walk rate, a 23 percent K rate and a .150 Isolated Power. Donald was off to a .277/.396/.423 start at Triple-A Columbus in 2010. Neither ZiPS (.290 wOBA) nor CHONE (.299 wOBA) had especially sunny major league forecasts for him.

The 25-year-old ranked as Baseball America’s #69 prospect prior to 2009, but he missed time with left knee and back injuries last year and slipped to 15th in the Indians’ system before 2010. Almost exclusively a shortstop before this season, Donald had mostly been playing second base with Columbus. BA called him a “fringy defensive shortstop whose range and overall defensive skill set might be better suited for second base.”

While the Tribe will turn to Valbuena and Donald, fantasy owners seeking to fill the void created by Cabrera’s injury should look elsewhere. Shortstops with low Yahoo ownership rates include: Everth Cabrera (11%), Alcides Escobar (13%) and Ian Desmond (14%, and also has 2B eligibility). Maicer Izturis (19%) qualifies at short, second and third, and he could nab a good chunk of Brandon Wood’s playing time at the hot corner once he returns from a shoulder injury.