MILWAUKEE — Dansby Swanson’s first year as a Cub in 2023 was filled with plenty of difficulties.

He was open about how he struggles with change, and leaving practically the only organization he knew for the Cubs before that year was not easy. Then, in his first month in Chicago, his wife, Mallory, suffered a gruesome, torn patella tendon in her left knee that would cause her to miss that year’s World Cup.

It was a trying time, but through it, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer let his star shortstop know he could talk to him whenever he wanted.

“He was always open and available for us, willing to do anything for us, and kind of helping out in any way, shape or form, which that meant a lot to us,” Swanson said before Monday’s series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. “Just him doing anything he could to help. So that part has always meant a lot to me.”

The Cubs shortstop always knew he could approach him about team building or baseball things – Swanson joked in his first year that he’d frequent the baseball operations area but wouldn’t wear khakis – but it was refreshing to know it wasn’t just about that with him.

Swanson and many of the other Cubs players were excited for Hoyer after the team announced they signed him to a multi-year contract extension. It’s not just the baseball side that the players were giddy about – it was the human, Hoyer the person, that they were thrilled for.

“It’s the human level of how you’re treated, frankly,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.  “And I think he just treats people really well and the right way. In a work environment like this, where it’s emotional, there’s emotional conversations, to know that that’s how he’s going to operate, you can have an emotional conversation, but still feel like you’re treated the right way, I think is something that’s really important.”

It’s not an easy gig from that standpoint. Hoyer has to be cutthroat, parting ways with players or trading away fan favorites, like he did less than a year into the job.

The first-year president of baseball operations made the difficult decision to sell at the 2021 deadline, a sequence of moves that sent iconic figures – Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Báez — from the 2016 World Series-winning team away.

“For the few of us that were still there that had spent years with those guys, a huge challenge, just from a morale standpoint – those guys were the organization at that time,” Ian Happ, who was the Cubs’ first-round pick in the 2015 draft and debuted in 2017, said. “Not easy to do for the front office. But also, I think it was an opportunity for us to kind of write, and [then-manager David Ross] at the time, to write what was going to be our M.O. moving forward.

“I think you’re seeing kind of what that looks like now, years later.”

Happ had to experience something like 2021 a year later. A year and a half away from free agency, Happ’s name was a popular one in rumors at the 2022 trade deadline. The homegrown outfielder knew he could go to Hoyer and share his feelings.

“I made it clear that I wanted to be here, but that wasn’t – I don’t think that changed whether he was going to trade me or not,” Happ said. “But I very much appreciate the fact that he didn’t, and that I can be here to be a part of this. I appreciate what he’s seen in me as a player from 20 years old until now.”

Now, Hoyer and the Cubs will head into Thursday’s trade deadline with the peace of mind that he’ll be around for the next few years. And Swanson can bounce around ideas with him. After all, he’s confident he can contact him any time, anywhere or in any manner. Well, most manners, that is.

“I was thinking about FaceTiming him,” Swanson said with a smile. “I’ve never FaceTimed him in my life but thought about FaceTiming just to say congratulations.”