FanHouse JemileWeeks

Oakland Athletics second baseman Mark Ellis is slated to become a free agent after this season since he's in the final year of a three-year deal he signed with Oakland back in 2006. He's never been the type of player to carry a team or anything, but generally, he's the type of player any GM would have as their second baseman.

I mean, he's no Chase Utley or anything, but he gives you solid offensive production and has one of the best gloves of any second sacker in the game today. Odds are that if he were to hit the market this off-season, he could pull in anywhere from $6-$10 million a season from a team that sees him as a nice alternative to Orlando Hudson (who should be the most sought after free agent second baseman this winter).

Unfortunately for anybody who was hoping to sign him, it doesn't look like he's going to be available.

Ellis is in the final year of a three-year contract, and he isn't all that interested in leaving Oakland, so he's encouraged that his agent, Jamie Murphy, recently started talking with A's assistant general manager David Forst about an extension.

"It's only been a couple of conversations, so we'll see where it goes from there," Ellis told MLB.com on Wednesday before the second game of a three-game Interleague series against the visiting Phillies at McAfee Coliseum. "But it's nice we're talking."

The Athletics are just as interested in keeping Ellis around as well, because even though they just drafted second baseman Jemile Weeks in the first round of the draft, the team could move him to the outfield. After Weeks, the A's don't have any other real prospects at second, so keeping Ellis would be ideal.

Now that the exciting action of MLB's amateur draft has completed it's first round, it's time to take a look at our country's next millionaires. Here's a quick glance at the first round selections by the teams of the AL West.

Texas Rangers (11) Justin Smoak, 1B, South Carolina: After trading Mark Teixeira to the Braves last season, the Rangers were left with an opening in the power-hitting first baseman that can hit from both sides of the plate department, and it looks like they filled the position with Justin Smoak. This kid can really Smoak (I know...boooo) the ball all over the field, and was projected in a lot of mock drafts as being a top ten, possibly top five, pick. Instead he went 11th to the Rangers, and though Rangers fans will probably compare him more to Teixeira, or even Chipper Jones, since he's a switch-hitter he's more of an Adrian Gonzalez type. Whether that means the Rangers will trade him to the Padres and he'll be their only position player worth a damn in a few years, I don't know.

Oakland Athletics (12) Jemile Weeks, 2B, Miami (Fla.): Brewers fans are already familiar with Jemile's older brother, Rickie, and now Oakland fans will get a chance to meet the second member of the Weeks family to get drafted. A lot of people who know more about this stuff than I do are saying that this pick was a bit of a stretch by the Athletics, since Weeks can only play one position, and will have to make a change in his approach at the plate to succeed in the Majors. That said, the kid has wheels, and he's a better defender than his brother. Plus, Billy Beane has had a lot of success in this draft thing, so if he thinks the kid is good enough, I'll just have to take his word for it.