MILWAUKEE — In the midst of a heavyweight battle for first place in the National League Central, the Chicago Cubs are still scouring the landscape for help before Thursday’s MLB trade deadline. On their wish list: two starters, a reliever, a potential upgrade at third base and perhaps a backup center fielder.

The man to get it done? President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, who received a multiyear contract extension Monday as ownership believes he’s the right person to lead the organization during this trade deadline and beyond.

With such a lengthy to-do list, why hasn’t Hoyer made a move yet with just days left to deal? What teams want for those players has been sky high at the top and middle of the market, according to sources familiar with the Cubs’ situation.

Sometimes, a deadline is all it takes to make things happen.

“No one’s untouchable,” Hoyer said recently. “But at the same time, we have a lot of really good prospects and you have to feel like you’re getting commensurate value.”

While the Cubs attempt to find the right fits for their deadline needs, here is where things stand at each area they hope to address.

Starting pitching

Of all their needs, the Cubs view finding help on the mound to be their biggest priority, according to sources familiar with their thinking.

They rank 14th in the majors in starting pitching ERA, and their need for help is amplified by their lack of depth after Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga at the top of the rotation.

“They’ve known that was a need since Justin Steele went down,” a rival executive said.

The Cubs have “kicked the tires in a lot of places” in their search for pitching, one American League source said.

That includes starting pitchers at the top of this year’s deadline like Washington Nationals star MacKenzie Gore, those in the middle like Chicago White Sox righty Adrian Houser and even a player returning from injury in Cleveland Guardians starter Shane Bieber. Bieber could be this year’s deadline version of Boyd, who helped Cleveland down the stretch last year before signing with the Cubs in the offseason.

The Cubs have talked at various times to the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays about their potentially available starters and to the Pittsburgh Pirates about Mitch Keller, as well as a handful of other teams, according to sources. The Cubs are also candidates to land one of Arizona’s available pitchers — though, after another so-so performance by Zac Gallen over the weekend, righty Merrill Kelly, 37, is the more reliable of the two Diamondbacks pitchers. And they also have shown interest in Baltimore’s Zach Eflin.

“The Cubs are ready to pounce if the prices come down,” another source said.

The return needed to land Gore would be astronomical and is prohibitive to a deal for the strikeout artist. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel has said that the key player the Nationals are rumored to want for Gore is third baseman Matt Shaw, who isn’t on the table.

The White Sox are looking for a prospect ranked in the teens for Houser and even Gore’s teammate, Michael Soroka, would take a higher-than-expected return despite a 4.87 ERA.

The Cubs are determined to enter August with a deeper rotation, so a move is likely. But which team lowers its demands is still the big question.

Relief pitching

Similar to the starters, the Cubs’ bullpen also ranks in the middle of the pack in ERA this season, with clear opportunities for improvement if Chicago can find the right deadline match and multiple relievers needed for the high stakes of the months ahead. The Cubs’ core group of Daniel Palencia, Caleb Thielbar, Ryan Brasier, Drew Pomeranz and Brad Keller has been solid, but those latter few have shown some cracks recently. This is also Palencia’s first chance at being a closer, so the Cubs wouldn’t mind pairing someone with some experience, considering Ryan Pressly has been shaky at best.

The Cubs are among the teams that would love to acquire either Griffin Jax or Danny Coulombe or closer Jhoan Duran from the Minnesota Twins. But just as they do for the available starting pitchers, the Cubs have their ‘irons in the fire’ for the relievers as well, according to the AL source.

There is one closer who could be on the move but can be ruled out for the Cubs — Ryan Helsley, who plays for the rival Cardinals. But Nationals reliever Kyle Finnegan, Pirates closer David Bednar, Braves righty Raisel Iglesias and Rays ninth-inning man Pete Fairbanks are all possibilities if Duran isn’t attainable.

Third base

The first trade deadline domino at third base fell last week when the New York Yankees acquired Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies. But the Cubs weren’t really in on McMahon, according to league sources, which provides a window into how they are approaching the hot corner this month.

Shaw has been much better recently, including posting a ..387/.406/.839 slash line since the All-Star break while playing stellar defense.

“Matt is getting a great opportunity,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s doing the best to take advantage of it. … You should have to earn your spots on teams like this. That’s completely fair. It doesn’t get easier. You have to earn that. Matt is doing a great job of that.”

Shaw’s improvement has given Chicago confidence that he can handle the position the rest of this season. It also allows the Cubs to see if a big deal develops instead of forcing one to fill a lineup spot.

Chicago is in constant contact with the Arizona Diamondbacks about possibly acquiring third baseman Eugenio Suarez and Kelly in what likely would be the biggest blockbuster of this deadline. It’s probably a long shot because Chicago’s biggest need is on the mound, but it’s not impossible.

What the Cubs have to offer

Though expectations on trade return are bound to come down somewhat in the coming days, the reality of this deadline is that there are more teams looking to add than subtract, so it will take big offers to land the best players available.

The Cubs are willing to part with their top prospect, OF Owen Caissie, but not for a player they’ll have for one season. The slugging outfielder is one of the three players drawing the most interest from opposing teams, along with Shaw and Double-A pitcher Jaxon Wiggins. Chicago has made 22-year-old outfielder Kevin Alcantara available, but so far, he hasn’t drawn the interest the other players have.

“I mean that’s one of the fun parts of this job is you kind of have to alter your playbook,” Hoyer said about being nimble and switching directions.

One thing the Cubs won’t do this year is blow up their farm system to increase their playoff odds — which sit at 94.7%, according to FanGraphs.

The Cubs are in a different place this July than they were in 2016, when they moved their No.1 prospect — Gleyber Torres — for closer Aroldis Chapman despite having about a 99% chance of making the postseason. But the move helped them win the World Series.

If that deadline is what all-in looks like on the North Side, the vibe heading into Thursday could be best described as “mostly-in.”

The Cubs are highly motivated to return to the postseason after a prolonged absence, and an aggressive approach is still expected as Chicago prepares for a division race that could be a battle to the end. But the Cubs’ level of aggressiveness remains to be seen.

The Yankees traded for outfielder Austin Slater from the White Sox on Wednesday, as New York continues to bolster a roster currently without superstar outfielder Aaron Judge ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.

The White Sox acquired minor league pitcher Gage Ziehl in return.

Slater is batting .236 with five home runs and a .721 OPS in 51 games this season, but like recent Yankees acquisition Amed Rosario, he has been very productive against left-handed pitchers with a .261 batting average, .859 OPS and all five of his home runs coming in 77 plate appearances against them.

“Really enjoyed my time here and met some incredible people,” Slater said of the White Sox. “Super fun clubhouse to be in. But then also really excited to go play for the Yankees. One of those teams as a kid you always dream about playing for. And they are right in a race for the playoffs. Excited to go there and try to help them out.”

The 32-year-old right-handed hitter missed over a month between April and May with a torn meniscus in his right knee. He signed a one-year, $1.75 million deal with Chicago in November, making him a rental for the Yankees before reaching free agency again this offseason.

Slater has started 15 games in right field, nine in left field and one as designated hitter this season. He provides the Yankees further insurance should Judge, who is on the 10-day injured list with a flexor strain, not return to the outfield for the remainder of the year.

As of now, the Yankees hope Judge will return in early August after the 10-day minimum absence to serve as their designated hitter and begin a throwing program with the goal of returning to right field this season. Giancarlo Stanton, the club’s everyday designated hitter, began working out in right field this week to prepare for the possibility of playing the field for the first time since 2023.

Slater also offers Yankees manager Aaron Boone more lineup and in-game flexibility to counter left-handed pitchers with an outfield group that leans heavily left-handed. With Judge on the injured list, the Yankees don’t have a right-handed-hitting primary outfielder on the active roster; Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger are left-handed, and Jasson Dominguez, a switch-hitter, has a .585 OPS in 98 plate appearances batting from the right side this season. Slater figures to start games over Dominguez against left-handed pitchers.

Slater spent the first seven-plus seasons of his career with the San Francisco Giants before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds last summer. New York will be Slater’s fifth team in just over a year.

“At this point, we’re a little more prepared than we were last year,” Slater said. “It was something, there was always writing on the wall that it could happen. That maybe helped us mentally prepare a little bit more this year.”

Rosario, a utility man acquired from the Washington Nationals on Saturday, gives Boone another right-handed-hitting corner outfield option, but he is also slated to play second and third base.

Ziehl, 22, was a fourth-round pick by the Yankees last year. The right-hander has posted a 4.15 ERA in 16 appearances (15 starts) between three levels this season, topping out with one start in Double-A.

In addition to Slater and Rosario, the Yankees have traded for veteran third baseman Ryan McMahon in the past week. The Yankees remain in the market for pitching, both starters and relievers before Thursday’s 6 p.m. ET deadline, sources said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

MILWAUKEE — Chicago Cubs outfielder Ian Happ won’t require a stint on the injured list after fouling a ball off his shin against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Happ wasn’t in the lineup for Wednesday’s series finale but said he could be available if necessary. X-rays taken on Happ’s shin were negative.

“Nothing serious,” Happ said before the game, adding that he did feel “a little sore and stiff.”

The incident occurred Tuesday during the eighth inning of the Cubs’ 9-3 loss to the Brewers and caused him to exit the game. Happ also had said Tuesday he felt lightheaded as a result of the pain coming from his shin.

“It was something like, if you feel like you’re going to pass out or throw up on the field, you probably shouldn’t continue the at bat,” Happ said before Wednesday’s game.

Happ said he generally doesn’t wear shin guards when he’s at the plate. That likely will change for at least a little bit.

“I don’t love the way they feel,” Happ said. “I don’t like the bulkiness of them, so I try not to (wear them). But when I hit right-handed now for a week or two, I’ll have one on. And then once it goes away, we’ll do it again.”

Although Happ avoided a stint on the injured list, the Cubs did make a move Wednesday by calling up catcher Moisés Ballesteros from Triple-A Iowa and designating utilityman Vidal Bruján for assignment. Ballesteros was batting seventh as a designated hitter in the Cubs’ lineup Wednesday.

“It was basically just trying to put the best lineup out there today, essentially,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “In moving on from Bruján, moving forward, we’re probably going to have to make some other changes to the roster just to get more outfield depth. But for today, it made sense.”

Ballesteros, 21, has batted .332 with a .393 on-base percentage, .496 slugging percentage, nine homers, 57 RBI and four steals in 86 games with Iowa. He went 3 for 18 with three RBI in five games with Chicago earlier this season.

He said that earlier stint in the big leagues taught him to be more patient.

“As much as we want to get out there and do things too perfect, we’ve just got to stick to what you do and just try not to do too much,” Ballesteros said through an interpreter.

Bruján, 27, hit .222 with a .234 on-bae percentage, no homers, three RBI and two steals in 36 games.