Rafael Furcal hit the DL with a bad back. He had been one of the hottest hitters in baseball through the early going, so losing him will undoubtedly affect your fantasy team especially because of the dearth of options at shortstop. Furcal should be back and hitting soon after he is eligible to be activated so his injury shouldn't cause too much worry, but you stillneed a bat to replace him in your lineup. Here are a few players you can turn to short-term for help at short and are widely available in most leagues:

Jeff Keppinger, CIN: The rookie has benefitted greatly from the injury to Alex Gonzalez, and the Reds no longer have a major sinkhole in their lineup. He's hitting .320 with 20 RBI, and had a 5-hit game Saturday against the Mets. Cincinatti would be wise to keep the kid in the lineup even after Gonzalez returns.

Edit:  It looks like Keppinger will be out for an extended period of time after dislocating his knee by fouling off a pitch off his leg Tuesday.  It's bad break for him and the Reds as he was having a breakout year.

Eric Aybar, LAA: This youngster has slowed down from his torried early season pace, but he will play everyday. He has won the shortstop job, and will continue to play even with the eventual return of Howie Kendrick pushing Macier Izturis into a super-utility role. Aybar has enough speed to steal 20 bags as well.

Ronny Cedeno, CHC: He only has 57 at-bats this season in a part-time role, but he already has collected 18 RBI and scored 14 times. If he ever gets more playing time, he could be a nice fantasy option.

Felipe Lopez, WAS: Remember him? Well, he's won the 2B job and is batting leadoff for the Nationals, but still has SS-eligibility. He won't repeat the 23 home runs he hit in 2005, but he did average better than 27 steals from 2005-2007. He's got 4 so far this season, and has been caught only once. There isn't much upside here in his overall game, but the potential for steals is clearly there.

Chin-Lung Hu, LAD: Furcal's real life replacement, Hu is regarded as a terrific fielder with a very mediocre bat. He's hitting just .208 this season in a part-time utility role for the Dodgers. He was the MVP of the Futures Game last season, but he has very little power or upside to him. There's no reason to own Hu unless you are in a deep NL-only league.