Why This Is Mark Ellis’ Last Season With Oakland

The Oakland Athletics are a young team, and Billy Beane is always looking for ways to make his roster younger. Oakland’s infield, as pointed out by a recent post by MLBTraderumors.com, the A’s will have a few older players eligible for free agency after this season.

Whether or not the A’s decide to bring back some of their aging players is entirely up to the A’s front office.

One player who is eligible for free agency after this season is 2B Mark Ellis. At 33, Ellis is one of Oakland’s oldest players and he’s beginning to show his age. In 36 games this season (124 at-bats), Ellis is batting .185/.215/.266 with six RBIs.

The A’s have valued Ellis’ veteran leadership and incredible defensive abilities, but Oakland is in need for more offensive punch. At this stage in his career, Ellis is nearing the end of his tenure with Oakland.

Oakland’s offense is struggling so far this season, and Ellis is one of Oakland’s regulars who are under-performing. Despite his veteran leadership and strong defense, Ellis’ offensive production is not where it needs to be.

While Ellis is known for starting out slow during April and May, the A’s infielder isn’t getting any younger, so even if he hits well in the later months of the season as he did last year, the A’s might want to go with a younger infield next year.

What do you think? Should the A’s re-sign Ellis after this year?