San Diego Padres, Stop Being Chicken

The San Diego Padres in 2005 and 2006 went to the playoffs and now are dead last in the NL West.  In the last year the Padres got rid of icons Trevor Hoffman via free agency and just traded Jake Peavy to the White Sox. The Padres are currently the second worst team in the National League behind the Washington Nationals.  In 2009, they started out with a $43 million payroll and that includes the Jake Peavy salary which was the second lowest in all of baseball. Stop being chicken and put a good team on the field. The fans will support a good product. The Padres did get bumped in the first round both years to the Cardinals, but they seemed like a healthy franchise with at least a chance to play in October. In 2005 the Padres were seventh in all of Major League Baseball in attendance and were averaging over 35,000 tickets sold per game.     Average Attendance per Padres Game 2009—24,442        2008—29,969      2007—34,445      2006—32,836 2005—35,429       (seventh in MLB for attendance in 2005 ahead of teams like the Phillies, Mets, Red Sox, and Tigers ) The Padres are off about 10,000 fans per game from 2005 and the past two years they have not given fans much to cheer about by being in last place in the NL West. Besides Adrian Gonzalez smacking home runs out of the park and Heath Bell closing out the few wins the Padres get, there is not much to watch at Petco. Are the Padres not spending enough to compete on a yearly basis?   Can they bounce back and give the fans a product they can support and cheer for?