In a less than surprising development, Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin is starting to get questions about what will happen at second base when Mark Ellis comes off the disabled list. Jemile Weeks has had two strong games and another decent game (1-for-4 with an RBI). Mark Ellis was struggling mightily when he got hurt so it's not surprising that a hot start from Weeks would lead to speculation about the second base position upon Ellis' return.
I had been thinking about providing some analysis on this in the coming days if Weeks remained hot, but given that the issue was raised in a pre-game Q&A with Melvin, we might as well take a look at it. Weeks has now played four games at second base for the A's, so it's not like we can make any sort of grand projections about his future this season and beyond.
Nonetheless, if he were to stay hot as Ellis comes off the DL (knock on wood), the A's face an interesting situation. Ellis is a free agent after this season and the odds were high that Weeks would get his shot at second base in 2012. Now that he's getting a shot, maybe he'll do enough to take off with the job. If that's the case, the A's could conceivably move Ellis over to third base to compete with Scott Sizemore and Adam Rosales for playing time.
Once again it's worth emphasizing that Weeks likely has plenty to prove in the coming weeks before the A's would be willing to hand over the starting second base job in season. But if he can consistently hit for two weeks and provide solid defense, how do you not make the change given Ellis' age and struggles?