The Pedroia Injury

The Red Sox placed Dustin Pedroia on the disabled list with a fracture in his foot today, though the severity is unknown and there’s no timetable for his return. He suffered the injury last night when he fouled a ball off his right instep, though he managed to stay in for one more pitch (ball four) before limping off.

With a .382 wOBA and 12 homers in 73 games, Pedroia was one of the three best fantasy second baseman, so his absence is a major loss to more than just the Red Sox. Like I said when we looked at some fill-ins for Troy Tulowitzki, your best bet is too make sure that you don’t take a hit in the AVG and OBP departments, because there’s basically no way to replace the counting stats at this time of the season. Here’s three players that could lend a hand…

Kevin Frandsen | Angels | 4% owned

With infielders dropping like flies due to injuries and Brandon Wood still doing his best to claim the title of worst player in baseball, the Angels have turned to Frandsen this month, and he’s produced in a big way. He’s hitting .333/.371/.439 with seven doubles (all in his last ten games) in June, playing every day at the hot corner. (R) ZiPS projects a .281 AVG (.338 OBP) the rest of the way, mostly because his .373 BABIP will likely regress as the season goes on. Frandsen is eligible at 2B, 3B, and SS.

Orlando Hudson | Twins | 30%

Hudson is having a typical year for him, hitting in the .280’s (.281, to be exact) with an OBP in the .350’s (.352), though he’s scoring a boatload of runs (42) batting in front of Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Co. (R) ZiPS projects more of the same going forward, and you know he’ll play every day as long as his wrist holds up.

Freddy Sanchez | Giants | 20%

Sanchez came off the disabled list in mid May, and he’s been doing his usual high AVG (.302), low power (.079 ISO) act since. (R) ZiPS predicts a .299 AVG going forward, and there’s no reason to expect anything more than that. As long as Sanchez’s knee doesn’t begin to act up, he’ll be in the lineup every day for San Francisco.

Replacement second baseman are a sorry lot, so make sure you keep your eyes open. If someone gets hot for a week, don’t hesitate to grab him and ride it out while Pedroia’s on the DL.