With two deals made yesterday -- Matt Holliday to the A's, and Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham to the Nationals, and Jake Peavy... still a Padre a this writing, the trade market appears to be heating up, and on Thursday, declared free agents will be eligible to sign with any team.

One interesting development overnight was the Padres' withdrawal of a $4 million offer to Trevor Hoffman. Granted, Hoffman is 41 and didn't have such a good year in 2008, but he is a franchise icon and that offer was about half what he made in '08. Whether this is another part of San Diego's cost-cutting in the wake of owner John Moores' costly divorce, or whether it's a harbinger of things to come -- will teams start to rein in spending because of the current economic crisis? -- remains to be seen.

What seems clear is that the Cubs aren't going to be major players in the free agent market. Much as we might like to see CC Sabathia in blue pinstripes, it's not going to happen. The only free agents the Cubs are likely to sign are their own -- Ryan Dempster, Kerry Wood and Henry Blanco, I believe, will all eventually re-up. Daryle Ward may not be back, and Chad Fox and Jon Lieber -- well, yes, they filed, but you didn't really expect to see them as Cubs again, did you?

So instead, Jim Hendry is going to have to get creative. With the Marlins dealing Willingham, does that mean Jeremy Hermida is off the market? I would argue that the Cubs might be able to get him with a package that could include Felix Pie and Sean Marshall. This is pure speculation on my part, and likely they'd have to put another prospect in such a deal, but Pie would be an immediate starter in Florida and Marshall would replace the traded Scott Olsen in the Marlins' rotation.

With Hermida on board and Kosuke Fukudome likely then moving to CF as a platoon partner for Reed Johnson, that would complete the Cubs' starting outfield for 2009. I would still like to see the Cubs sign Kevin Millar to back up LF, RF and 1B... and to be that clubhouse presence that was missing, somehow, during the disastrous 2008 postseason. Yes, I am well aware that Millar is getting on in years and didn't have a very good offensive season in 2008 (despite hitting 20 HR in 531 AB and drawing 71 walks, which would have ranked among the Cubs' team leaders). The Cubs wouldn't be asking Millar to start -- just back up, and provide the looseness that any winning clubhouse needs. Since Hermida would be the starting LH bat in RF, having Millar replace Daryle Ward as the #1 pinch-hitter would be acceptable. At one time I advocated trading Derrek Lee, but after seeing some of the discussions here which mentioned that his neck and back problems may have been the cause of his power dropoff, I would think that an offseason's rest would get him back into shape. He'll probably never have a year like he had in 2005, but even if he could get back to his 2004 level (.860 OPS), that'd be just fine.

With Sean Marshall gone, the Cubs would need another pitcher to perform the role that Marshall did quite well last year -- start occasionally and be a long reliever... that is, if Lou even knows how to use a long reliever, something he failed to do in many situations that called for it. There are some mid-range starting pitcher free agents that could fill this role without costing a fortune: Randy Wolf, Mark Hendrickson, or even Freddy Garcia, who started for Lou for several years in Seattle and who appeared recovered from his arm troubles in pitching five strong innings in that September 29 Tigers/White Sox makeup game at the Cell.

Filling the slot being vacated by the (presumably) departed Bob Howry should be fairly simple to do, either via someone on this list of free-agent relievers (would you take a chance on bringing back some former Cubs like Juan Cruz or Kyle Farnsworth?) or perhaps, by someone who will come out of spring training and surprise. There seems to be someone like that virtually every year. Or maybe Michael Wuertz will finally fulfill the promise that has had him as part of the Cubs' bullpen for the last five seasons.

The rest of the team seems fairly well set; regardless of whether you agree with him or not, Lou likes Ryan Theriot and he will be the starting SS, unless there's someone who could come in cheaply to replace him. One possibility could be Juan Uribe -- and if Uribe didn't start, he could capably back up all three infield positions. Ronny Cedeno did a decent job as a backup in 2008, and if he came into 2009 in the same role, I think we could live with it. Another possibility is Nate Spears, who the Cubs acquired almost as an afterthought from the Orioles in the Corey Patterson deal three years ago. Spears will be 24 in May, had an .832 OPS in Double-A last year and as of today is replicating that (.827) in the Arizona Fall League. He hits lefthanded and has a good glove. Spears isn't on the 40-man roster, which now stands at 39, but that can be easily remedied.

The bottom line is that I don't think the Cubs are getting Jake Peavy, and that's fine with me. Peavy's numbers outside of Petco don't scream "ace" to me, and his contract, four years' worth, would hamstring the team in an era when some here are screaming for Hendry to dump some of the backloaded deals he's handed out like Halloween candy over the last couple of years. The Cubs ought to also look hard at whoever is available in the Rule 5 draft and also at the non-tender list when it comes out in the middle of December.

As I said last time I posted on this topic, this team won 97 games a year ago. There's no need to blow it up and start over. Tweaking, upgrading the bench and bullpen, and making sure the starting rotation has backups in case of injury, are the most important things.

For those of you screaming and yelling about the alleged possibility that Bud Selig is going to "install" John Canning as Cubs owner, I refer you to this November 7 article from the Sun-Times:

Bidders for the team include Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and the cable channel HDNet, and Thomas Ricketts, president of corporate bond dealer Incapital LLC. An insider said Ricketts, whose family wealth derives from the TD Ameritrade brokerage, currently has the inside track.

Cuban has a colorful reputation and drinks beer in the stands with the fans, but the source said the credit drought has hurt his chances. "Whatever the price for the Cubs, he was only going to put in $100 million of his own money," the source said.

And that last part is why Cuban might be out, not any supposed enmity from Bud Selig and/or Jerry Reinsdorf. I agree with the article: if the sale is consummated soon, it'll be the Ricketts group. But given the state of the economy, who knows?

When Mike Jacobs' second homer of the day (and yes, it was definitely a HR, the umpires got it right -- it hit off the concrete facing behind the basket, above the yellow line) left the Yard in the third inning, making the score 5-0 Marlins and you could hear the sound of anguished wrist-slitting all over Wrigleyville, I was contemplating how I'd write up a recap of what appeared to be the makings of another mess of a game, and was thinking I'd write a couple of sentences and shut the computer down -- if I even could; when I left my house my cable was completely out and I had no TV, phone or internet service.

About two hours later, Jeff Samardzija had his first major league save and the Cubs had a come-from-behind 9-6 win over the Marlins, not a moment too soon, and that, combined with the Astros' 11-6 win over the Brewers (and when Houston's seven-run fifth inning was posted on the Wrigley Field scoreboard, a huge cheer rippled through the crowd of 41,017), put the Cubs back in first place by a game, awaiting the four-game showdown with the Brewers in Milwaukee starting tomorrow.

Dave said to me when Samardzija came into the game in the 8th and started mowing down Marlins hitters, "He could do for the Cubs what Bobby Jenks did for the 2005 White Sox", and I think that's an apt comparison -- although Jenks, of course, became the closer, and Samardzija won't (unless some really strange things happen). But the Shark could take over a key setup role and it's clear already that Lou trusts him in a game situation. Today, Samardzija seemed more in control of himself -- wasn't overthrowing, the fastest pitch I saw on the ballpark speed meter was 95, and he threw strikes again (16 in 25 pitches). The game ended on a throwback play, Jim Edmonds laying flat-out like he was ten years younger, and catching Jorge Cantu's line drive into the left-center field gap. (Did you ever think you'd hear a standing ovation like that one for Jim Edmonds? At Wrigley Field? Told you this was one special season.)

The game began to turn when Alfonso Soriano tied it with a three-run homer in the fourth. And even though Jason Marquis coughed it right back with a HR allowed to Dan Uggla -- the eighth hit in the series by the Marlins -- give credit to Marquis for eating up innings again. He managed to finish six innings on a warm, though not too humid, afternoon, saving most of the bullpen. And in that sixth inning, we were sitting in LF shaking our heads at Ryan Theriot again, as he just didn't quite have the range or arm to throw out Hanley Ramirez on a grounder to deep short. But then, Theriot followed that with a diving stop and flip on Jeremy Hermida's ball that looked like it was going up the middle, and Mark DeRosa nearly turned it into the slickest DP of the year (WEB GEM!). When Cantu hit into a DP to end the inning, it seemed to energize the Cubs, though it took them one more inning to break through against Mark Hendrickson.

Derrek Lee homered to tie the game. But the key plays came later, when Hendrickson threw a wild pitch while pinch-hitter Daryle Ward was at bat. That prompted Fredi Gonzalez to order Ward intentionally walked (how many times have you seen a pinch-intentional walk?), loading the bases for the Wonder Hamster.

I still can't figure out how a guy that small hits the ball that far. I said to my son Mark (now with a 9-1 record), "You're almost as tall as Fontenot!" (He is, too: 5-2, at almost 13.) His double over Josh Willingham's head cleared the bases and won the game. And though it had no effect on the final score, Fontenot's heads-up baserunning play on Soriano's subsequent grounder to third prolonged the inning for one more batter.

Must-win? No. But "important win"? Definitely, and it'll put the Cubs in a good frame of mind for the series starting tomorrow night (can you figure out the Astros? They take two of three from the Cubs at home, two of three from the Brewers in Milwaukee, and in between get swept by the Pirates).

Finally, a little musical interlude, prompted by watching Scott Eyre get up ... and sit down ... and get up ... and sit down ... at least that many times in the bullpen today, without getting into the game. In fact, since being activated on Wednesday, Eyre has warmed up every day without ever getting into a game, even the 12-inning game yesterday. So with apologies to the Kingston Trio, here is "Scotty Never Got To Play":

Let me tell you the story
Of a man named Scotty
On this and every day
He put on his uniform,
Went out to the bullpen
But he never got to play

Scotty got the call
From the man in the dugout
So he threw a few baseballs
But when he thought he'd go in,
"Sit on down, Scotty!"
Scotty couldn't get in the game

Chorus:
Did he ever return,
No he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned
He may sit forever
On that bullpen bench
He's the man who never returned.