I personally stack Shield/Absorb, as do most Juggs in the competitive scene. My defense is minimized as much as i could possibly make it. Shield since 2.0 is very good because of the amount of attacks it affects now. Add this with Enraged Defense and you can heal yourself for a quite a good bit. Defense rating doesn't flow with our abilities.
Edit#1 To show you why Juggs gear in these stats
Expertise > Endurance > Shield > Defense >/= Absorb > Power > Accuracy
1. Melee/Ranged attacks that deal Kinetic/Energy damage - Both defense and shield/absorb do work
2. Melee/Ranged attacks that deal Internal/Elemental damage - These types of attacks don't exist
3. Force/Tech attacks that deal Kinetic/Energy damage - Shield/absorb does work, but defense does not.
4. Force/Tech attacks that deal Internal/Elemental damage - All your tanking stats are useless against these