The Oakland Athletics are activating Mark Ellis from the disabled list Wednesday, in time for the evening game against the New York Mets. In order to make room for Ellis, the A's optioned a struggling Daric Barton to AAA, thus keeping the hot-hitting Jemile Weeks on the 25-man roster. Barton had one final option, which means the A's did not have to submit him to waivers.
The question now is what to do with Mark Ellis and what to do with Jemile Weeks. For many people it's not really a decision, but life is never that simple.
At this point there are several options. The one that a lot of fans prefer would be for Mark Ellis to move into a utility infielder role. Weeks is hitting like crazy, while Scott Sizemore continues to play well at third and is just about as hot as Weeks at the plate. Weeks has a line of .362/.400/.574 while Sizemore's line is .343/.425/.486. I don't think anybody expects either to stay this hot, but as long as they're playing well can Bob Melvin and Billy Beane justify removing either from the lineup?
The argument for getting Mark Ellis in the lineup is his stellar defense. Weeks struggled a bit in the field on Tuesday but has been pretty solid at second. If Ellis was back in the lineup at second, Weeks would either be benched or moved over to third. Of course, he has little to no experience at third base and Scott Sizemore has been solid at third.
It seems like the obvious choice is to stick with Weeks and Sizemore, but when dealing with an aging veteran who has contributed a lot to the team, it's not necessarily so cut and dry.