Dontrelle Willis is 24. He already has 52 career victories. Imagine how differently life might have seemed at Wrigley Field if he had picked them up for the Cubs, his original team.

	The scorecard Major deals completed already this weekend (primary players only) ahead of tomorrow's 4 p.m. nonwaiver trade deadline: Carlos Lee to Texas, with Kevin Mench, Francisco Cordero and Laynce Nix going to Milwaukee.

It's fair to say the Cubs would not have included him in the spring 2002 trade that gave then-manager Don Baylor's team Antonio Alfonseca and Matt Clement if they had seen this coming. At that time Willis was assigned to the minor-league camp at Fitch Park rather than the clubhouse at Ho-Ho-Kam Park.

We mention this because nobody wants to be the general manager who trades the next Willis. While fans of the White Sox and other contenders clamor for some instant help before tomorrow's 4 p.m. trading deadline, executives tread carefully.

Historically, midseason trades are sucker bets for the buyers. Only a few of the veterans traded actually help a team reach the playoffs or win in October; many of the unknown minor-leaguers that switch hands wind up having significant big-league careers.

ESPN's Rob Neyer studied recent results. He found 126 trades in the week before the deadline since 1995 and concluded that only 18 of them actually paid off for the buyer. Among those that didn't: The Scott Kazmir-for-Victor Zambrano disaster for the Mets and -- children, please leave the room -- the Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek-for-Heathcliff Slocumb nightmare for the Mariners.

White Sox general manager Ken Williams hopes Tyler Lumsden and Daniel Cortes, the two pitching prospects sent to Kansas City for reliever Mike MacDougal, won't come back to haunt him like Willis has Andy MacPhail, who was the GM when the Cubs traded Willis.

The Cubs knew Willis had potential as a pitcher. But you wonder how well they got to know him as a person, because Willis has leadership skills almost as valuable as his pitching.

He has had a huge impact on the baby Florida Marlins, who have become fringe wild-card contenders instead of 100-game losers.

When Ricky Nolasco stumbled to the dugout at Shea Stadium a couple of weeks ago, knocked out in the second inning in his second consecutive terrible start, Willis walked over to him and immediately went to work rebuilding the rookie's confidence.

"He let me know I belong here," said Nolasco, who headlined the shortsighted Juan Pierre trade between the Cubs and Marlins last winter. "I've never seen so much positive energy from one player. He just gives off great, great presence."

Willis doesn't limit his influence to pitchers either. He has taken a personal interest in Reggie Abercrombie, a rookie center fielder from the Georgia outback who never had been in a big-league ballpark before he started for Florida on Opening Day.

"He has a great heart," Abercrombie said. "He's like a big brother to me. He's the one that keeps me afloat."

Willis wouldn't let his young teammates sulk when they broke from the gate 11-31. One Friday in May, he brought a shopping cart full of classic jerseys from every sport into the clubhouse and demanded that his teammates pick one. The Marlins won that game and have won every Friday home game -- Throwback Friday -- since then.

"Man, it was wild, but that's just the person he is," Abercrombie said. "He just set a trend for everybody. He wants to see other people do good. Anytime you see a person like that, you just know it's genuine."

You can't buy a presence like the one Willis brings to the Marlins. But you can trade one away.