IT’S A MADD

MADD WORLD...

A year after signing Xander Bogaerts to an astounding 11-year/$280M free agent contract, the Padres have announced they are moving him to second base and replacing him at shortstop with the more defensively efficient Ha-Seong Kim.

This is the second time in recent years the Padres have given a shortstop a contract of around $300 million and then moved him off the position. In February 2021, the Padres signed Fernando Tatis Jr. to an historic 14-year/$340M deal and anointed him as their franchise shortstop, only to have him miss the entire 2022 season with an injury and a PED suspension. By the time Tatis came back, they’d signed Bogaerts and he was moved to right field. … Nice to see the A’s and Oakland making nicey-nice again in the midst of their ugly divorce after a “positive” meeting Thursday in which they came closer to an agreement that would allow the A’s to extend their agreement with the Coliseum that runs out after this season. The A’s have tentatively planned to open a new ballpark in Las Vegas in 2028 at the earliest and need a place to play in the interim, the most preferable being the Coliseum where they would continue to receive the $67 million a year from their TV contract which is only good if they play in the Bay Area. In truth, they really should take the advice of Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman, who stunned the Super Bowl media horde by saying the proposed Tropicana Hotel site for the A’s stadium in Las Vegas “doesn’t make sense” and they should really go back to the bureaucrats in Oakland and work out a new plan there. I agree. The A’s move to Las Vegas — from the 10th largest TV market to the 40th — makes no sense and will doom them as the lowest revenue team in baseball. They already have the worst owner in baseball in