We haven't even gotten to summer and it appears the Padres baseball season is over.

Sure there are games to be played, more than half the schedule, and there is the Mid-Summer classic, the All Star game, but when you are in last place, double digits behind the lst place Giants, it is hard to think you can be a player any longer in the pennant race.

And so the chant now begins, how should they fix the Friars? Make the Padres a better team, a better franchise, make them more competitive.

Hard to get excited when we have to already adopt the phrase, "Wait till next year". What makes you think next year will be any better?

Next year might not include relief ace Heath Bell, nor power hitter Ryan Ludwick, both soon-to-be free agents. It might even be a younger roster next season, and we know how hard it is for youth to play in the big show. Just look at Mat Latos second year stats on the pitching mound, or the challenges young rookie first baseman Anthony Rizzo has.

Fixing the Padres is not just a San Diego issue. It's fixing a lot of the small market teams in baseball. It is, in essence, fixing the structure of baseball.

The Friars last place mailing address is not just because of nagging injuries, lack of hitting, or shaky pitching. It is about finances. Baseball is spending lots of time right now looking for answers to improve the game.

It has been some week for off-the-field conversation in baseball. The Commissioner's office is fully involved in talks with the Union, about changing the game.

They are talking about marketing the game, giving us new rivalries, creating a bigger pennant race for more clubs at the end of the season.

Realignment sounds sexy. Adding additional wild card playoff teams sounds exciting.

The latest proposal is to move a National League team to the American League, creating two leagues of 15-teams each. Some say the Houston Astros move to the AL-West to build a rivalry with the Texas Rangers. Some say it should be the Arizona Diamondbacks, as if a linkage to the Angels might make a difference.

I agree with the 15-15 balancing act. And while you are at it, add the designated hitter, the DH-rule, so both leagues operate the same.

But they are also talking about blowing up all the divisions in baseball. No more East-Central-West in either league. Instead a 15-team American League, a 15-team National League.

I totally disagree with that. When Padres fans think of home stands, and we know the Dodgers are coming to town, you get fired up knowing the history of the Friars-vs-Dodgers Blue. And we now have all come to hate the Orange & Black, aka, the Giants colors. Why would you want to disrupt that energy that exists?

Instead of spending all this time and energy on a cosmetic change, why not spend time on something much more important? Something that would make every team, regardless of division, more competitive?

Do the words salary cap, luxury tax, revenue sharing and floor-to-spending have any meaning to you? They should, for all of that encompasses what makes the rival NFL so good. The NFL, the most successful sports business model out there. Take what they have done, and apply it to your sport. Give every team the opportunity to be a small market Green Bay or Pittsburgh, where winning the ring is the thing, and has been done.

Bud Selig and the Union should find a way to get more money from its profit pies distributed to the small market teams. And it should mandate that once Jeff Moorad in San Diego, and every other owner in places like Tampa, Pittsburgh, Kansas City and the rest, takes that money, it must be spent on a major league payroll.

Yes the Red Sox and Yankees can spend 200-Million per year on salaries, but they must pay a tax to do so. And the tax pool is shared amongst the small market teams, and those small market teams must spend at least 75-Million on their big league payroll.

Just think what 75-Million would buy the Padres in terms of talent? You might keep Heath Bell or Ryan Ludwick; you might sign a decent free agent; you might trade for a difference making veteran player at the July 31st trading deadline.

No more 21M-spent in Tampa Bay, or 36M-in Florida, or 42M in San Diego. Think how many more good players you could add, if the Padres had an additional 33M in their checking account, and had to spend it on veteran players?

The NFL hard salary cap, and it's floor to spending, has made pro football a raging success. Baseball needs to do the same.

Selig and the Union can try to create additional interest in the pennant races, by adding 2-wildcard playoff spots. But what really will create greater interest in baseball, would be a better Padres-Pirates-Royals-Indians teams in their markets.

Realign, add two wildcard teams, keep the divisions intact, and then get to work on fixing baseball's economic structure. You are only as good as your weakest link in the chain, and there sure are lots of weak links. Just look at the baseball standings, and tell me how many of those teams really have a chance to be a 'player' in the pennant race.

8-of-13 years the Padres have given us less than .500 baseball recently. Last year's 90-win season to celebrate, looks as if it will be a 90-loss season to frustrate. And the road back to respectability sure looks like it will get longer, before it gets better, especially if the team gets younger, with its version of small-ball, small payroll-losing baseball.

Yes we have to fix the Friars. But we have to fix baseball's payroll disparity. Summer hasn't even started but the Padres baseball season looks over.

Keep San Diego in the same division with the Dodgers and Giants. Give me more money so we can compete with the Dodgers and Giants.

Don't tell me you hope the Padres can stay in a pennant race all year. Do something, by mandating increased payrolls via revenue sharing, so I don't have to face the realization their season is over before I ever get to July 4th. More payroll money, more proven players, and more likely the chance to be in the race when July turns to August into September, in every small market in America.

Fix baseball's payroll problems. That's how you fix the Padres.