How ’bout that Padre offense? Miguel Ojeda and Rich Aurilia get in on the act, Mark Loretta keeps on hitting, and now Phil Nevin is back.

Aurilia looks like he’s got a lot of good baseball left in him. This could turn out to be a steal for Kevin Towers. Without passing any judgment, here is the net result of the deals between San Diego and Seattle the past few years:

to Mariners            to Padres
--------------------------------
Ben Davis              Brett Tomko
Wascar Serrano         Ramon Vazquez
Alex Arias             Tom Lampkin
Kevin Jarvis           Jeff Cirillo
Dave Hansen            Rich Aurilia
Wiki Gonzalez

A closer look at what each of these players has contributed to their new teams (through 7/21/04):

to Mariners
           AB  BA OBP SLG
Davis     507 237 289 373
Arias       0   -   -   -
Hansen     71 296 433 408
Gonzalez    0   -   -   -

           IP  ERA
Serrano   0.0    -
Jarvis   13.0 8.31

to Padres
           AB  BA OBP  SLG
Vazquez   892 259 336  341
Lampkin   281 217 313  367
Cirillo    69 217 267  304
Aurilia     4 750 600 1250

           IP  ERA
Tomko   204.3 4.49

Whole lotta bodies, not much quality. Padres get more usage out of their guys. I’m not sure what the benefit is for the Mariners. Hansen is a good hitter, and I wish he were still in San Diego. But he’s really the only useful part the M’s have acquired in these deals, and he’s pretty much wasted on a team that far out of contention. For the Pads, Vazquez and Tomko were handy in stop-gap roles.

Have I missed anyone? I don’t think so, but let me know if I have.

Lightning Round

• Padres Lift Suspension Of Matt Bush (Baseball America). Good, now everyone can get on with the business of turning this kid into a big-leaguer. Bush batted third in his pro debut Wednesday. He singled in four at-bats and committed an error against the Cubs’ Arizona League squad.
• Projecting Power (Baseball America). John Manuel looks at what factors in a prospect’s minor-league performance are good indicators of power to come. Sean Burroughs is cited as an example of a guy who looked to develop power but who hasn’t yet (and, depending on whom you ask, never will).

Okay, I’m out of time. Tonight it’s David Wells vs Jason Schmidt. Should be a good test for the offense, no?