Got my first look at the 2002 Padres yesterday. A few impressions:

• After five innings of broadcasting, newcomer Matt Vasgersian has injected more life into the game than Mel Proctor did in five years. Not everyone is going to like this guy; he’s definitely not old school. Talks a lot (but has interesting things to say), and showed a good rapport with both Mark Grant and Rick Sutcliffe yesterday. Only major gaffe was when he made a reference to Barry Bonds and "the San Diego clubhouse." But hey, it’s spring training. Overall, I was very impressed.
• Phil Nevin looks comfortable at first base. He did pull his foot off the bag early once on what would’ve been a double play but otherwise, he showed good footwork and positioning. He also yanked an outside offering from Kirk Reuter over the left-field fence. Nice to see Nevin flashing the power but that’s a pitch he usually drives to right-center. Then again, Reuter isn’t exactly a flamethrower.
• Damian Jackson is taking more pitches (although green-lighting him 3-and-0 still seems bizarre to me).
• Sean Burroughs is ready. Reuter gave him trouble but the kid came back and knocked hits off Jay Witasick and another reliever. Very quiet at the plate and in the field. Soft hands, good footwork, strong arm. Reminds me a bit of Scott Rolen on defense. No disrespect to Nevin, but the Padres moved the right guy.
• Deivi Cruz showed surprisingly good range, especially to his right. I wasn’t really expecting much from him, but I think he’s an upgrade over Alex Arias in the utility infielder role.
• The more I see Brian Lawrence pitch, the more I like him. He was in midseason form yesterday. He’s never going to overpower batters, but he’s also not going to give them anything good to hit. He also does the little things like execute the sacrifice bunt, get over to first quickly to cover on grounders to the right side. He reminds me a lot of Rick Reuschel, or a right-handed John Tudor. Real fun to watch. Threw 57 pitches yesterday, 43 of them strikes.
• Jason Middlebrook was dealing. He also showed an improved breaking pitch, although as was the case in his brief trial last season, he got a little cute at times. Middlebrook has power stuff but he sometimes tries to pitch like a finesse guy.
• Jake Peavy got lit, allowing all five San Francisco runs in the ninth. I couldn’t bring myself to watch this, but I understand the defense let him down, with Cesar Crespo botching a double play ball and Pete Incaviglia failing to get to a couple of bloopers. Still, it wasn’t all bad. Peavy reportedly hit 96 MPH on the gun, although his comfort zone is in the 91-94 range. There’s no hurry with him.
• Rick Sutcliffe made an interesting comment about Xavier Nady. He said that of players he’s seen, Nady’s batting practices are second only to Mark McGwire’s in terms of power display. Of course, the same might’ve been said of Ruben Rivera a couple years ago, so take that for whatever it’s worth. Still, Sutcliffe has been around a lot of good ballplayers in his time, so it’s something to bear in mind.