With the July 31 MLB trade deadline looming and the Chicago Cubs 3.5 games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers atop the NL Central, Jed Hoyer and Co. certainly will look to make a splash.

In a story by ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, Hoyer, the Cubs president baseball of operations, and general manager Carter Hawkins shared some of their wildest trade deadline stories.

In 2004, Hoyer was a young Red Sox executive, but he played a role in the deal that landed speedster Dave Roberts in Boston. Then-Red Sox GM Theo Epstein handed the phone to Hoyer and delivered a simple message.

“At one point, he whipped the phone to me and he said, ‘Finish the Roberts deal,’ ” Hoyer explained in Rogers’ story.

Hoyer finished talking with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but even he wasn’t sure if the deal was done.

When Epstein asked if they’d come to a deal, Hoyer responded, “I just looked at him and said, ‘I think so?’ with a shrug.”

Hawkins shared a story that is a little more applicable to Cubs fans today.

In 2012, Hawkins was in Cleveland trying to finish a trade that would bring in right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez from the Colorado Rockies. The plan was to send newly drafted lefty Drew Pomeranz to the Rockies as part of that deal.

A chaotic day of miscommunications followed, though. Cleveland told the players they had been traded, only to bring them back to tell them they hadn’t been traded — and then later told they were, in fact, being dealt.

Pomeranz’s mind wasn’t done spiraling.

“You could not trade a drafted player within that first year of his signing,” Hawkins told Rogers. “So now we had to tell Drew he was going to be traded — but not for two weeks. By that time, his head was spinning.”

One only can imagine the headspace Pomeranz was in. Now a 12-year MLB veteran, Pomeranz is dealing a sub-one ERA (0.76) out of the Cubs’ bullpen, so perhaps that’s all water under the bridge between him and Hawkins.

This year, the Cubs likely will target a starting pitcher to bring their battered rotation back to a higher caliber. Whom that player will be and what the price will be remains to be seen.

Perhaps a ridiculous trade story will come out of this year’s trade deadline as the Cubs hope to make a playoff push.