CHICAGO — Jed Hoyer and the Cubs aren’t ruling anything out when it comes to the MLB trade deadline.

“Like always, no one’s untouchable,” the Cubs president of baseball operations said at Wrigley Field before the beginning of baseball’s unofficial second half Friday.

That doesn’t mean the Cubs — who entered the day 18 games above .500, with the second-best record and a one-game lead in the NL Central — will act recklessly and mortgage their farm system to acquire someone before July 31.

“But at the same time, we have a lot of really good prospects you have to feel like you’re getting commensurate value,” Hoyer said. “It really just depends on what’s available.”

That’s part of the tricky equation for the Cubs now.

With the trade deadline less than two weeks away, deciphering which teams will sell and who will buy is no small feat. Twelve of the 15 teams in the AL sat within 4.5 games of a playoff spot entering Friday, and nine NL teams were in that territory. Teams such as the Arizona Diamondbacks (5.5 games back of the final NL wild-card spot) and Atlanta Braves (9.5 back), who were expected to compete, instead find themselves at a crossroads: Do you stick it out or try to sell off pending free agents?

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“I do think this is a year where there may be some creativity because there’s not a ton of obvious sellers,” Hoyer said. “It could be a little bit of a strange market that way, so I do think that you try to think about things creatively as you think about different teams, because some deadlines it’s very obvious.”

A hitter such as Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suárez (31 HRs, 78 RBI, .889 OPS, 142 weighted runs-created plus) would boost the Cubs’ top-three offense if he’s available. But the Cubs won’t want to pay a premium price for a 34-year-old who’s set to hit the open market in a few months. But if Arizona also packages one of its starting pitchers — Merrill Kelly or Zac Gallen — that might be the type of “creativity” that Hoyer discussed.

Any additions the Cubs make, though, must be looked at in the macro sense. The Cubs will not trade for a player solely because of what their 2025 stats say. They will acquire them for what they can do over the final two months of the season.

Could a pitcher such as Miami Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara, the 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner who sports a 7.22 ERA in 18 starts, unlock something under the Cubs’ pitching infrastructure and have a solid final two months? Would Athletics right-hander Luis Severino, who carries a 3.04 ERA in eight road starts compared to a 6.68 mark in West Sacramento, benefit from a change of scenery and improve the Cubs’ rotation?

“I always use the ’21 Braves as the example,” Hoyer said. “They basically went regression shopping; they got Eddie Rosario, they got Jorge Soler, they got Joc Pederson from us and they won the World Series, and all those guys were really struggling in the first half.

“And so sometimes a guy that didn’t have a great first year doesn’t mean he’s not a good player. Maybe he’s due for the rest of it.”

It’s part of the puzzle that is the 2025 trade deadline. MLB’s expanded playoff format has led to more teams believing they’re in the thick of it and things aren’t as clear cut.

And while the Cubs might not know who might be available over the next two-plus weeks, they know their strong first half has them in a position to supplement their first-place ballclub. But it won’t come at the expense of the next few years when Hoyer expects the Cubs to be in the same situation — hunting playoff depth.

“I think that’s the balance,” Hoyer said. “I think that you want to focus on what’s happening right now but also realize that we’re set up to have good teams next year and beyond, and that’s the constant balance.

“I can’t give you a perfect answer, perfect percentage, but certainly that’s the job. We’re going to have really good teams after this year. And I think you always keep that in mind. But this is what’s right in front of us, and this is really important.”