CHICAGO — Ten years ago Scott Harris was the 29-year-old director of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs, doing whatever it took to win a championship.

That involved eating copious amounts of cake in the front-office suites at Wrigley Field, at the direction of his boss, then-Cubs President Theo Epstein.

As ESPN’s Wright Thompson wrote: “Their world up there has its own set of rules and superstitions, and central to the canon is this: If the team needs offense, Theo makes Scott Harris, the director of baseball operations, take out a loaf of plain bread and start eating. When Harris eats carbs, the Cubs score. One game, when the White Sox were no-hitting them, Theo got an entire chocolate cake from the passing dessert cart on the suite level. Harris ate more than half of it and the Cubs won.

“ ‘Harris,’ Theo says, taking a bag of bread and throwing it to Scott, knowing that the Cubs always need hot bats against the Cardinals. ‘Just start eating.' ”

Harris had his cake and ate it too.

He won a ring with the Cubs, became general manager of the San Francisco Giants and moved on to become president of the Detroit Tigers.

In that role, he might hold the keys to the Cubs’ chances of going back to the World Series for the first time since 2016. Harris happens to employ one of the two best pitchers on the planet in Tarik Skubal and reportedly is listening to offers leading into Monday’s MLB trade deadline.

One of the teams interested, according to a report by Patrick Mooney of The Athletic, is the Cubs, who are run by another former boss, Jed Hoyer, Epstein’s successor as president of baseball operations.

If you notice a twinkle in Hoyer’s eye Friday when the Cubs take on the New York Yankees at Wrigley Field, you can probably assume he has been Skubal diving all week, like several of his peers. He’s not dumb and knows there’s no cost in asking. He and Harris are old friends and compete annually for the Theo Cup, an imaginary trophy that theoretically goes to the winner of the Cubs-Tiger series.

But could the Cubs really put together a package that would satisfy Harris? History suggests they’ll shoot for the moon, settle for a middle-of-the-road starter and keep the prospects, explaining later that the price was too exorbitant.

Or maybe Harris simply could send Hoyer a non-negotiable list of players he demands, along with a chocolate cake and a post-it note saying, “Just start eating.” He’s in the driver’s seat and can just as easily send Skubal to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cubs’ archrival, and team him up with Jacob Misiorowski for the best one-two punch in baseball.

The mere notion of the Cubs getting Skubal is seemingly fantasy-world stuff, based on Hoyer’s track record since taking the throne from Epstein in 2021. Truly elite starters are not usually on his radar. Jameson Taillon, Marcus Stroman and Shota Imanaga are the only starters he has given deals of three to four years, and Skubal’s agent is Scott Boras, so it’s certain he’ll go to free agency.

That makes Skubal a probable two-month rental for a slew of players. Harris will have several other bidders, including you know who — the team that prints money like the Cubs print Clark the Cub stickers.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan speculated the front-runner for Skubal is those same Los Angeles Dodgers — no surprise — since they have both the money and prospects and also would be willing to sign him to a long-term megadeal when the lockout ends.

To outbid their rivals, the Cubs likely would have to part with rehabbing starter Ben Brown and perhaps three top prospects, including No. 1 prospect Josiah Hartshorn. That’s not very appetizing, but neither was the price for Aroldis Chapman at the ’16 deadline, when Epstein swallowed hard and made the move,

Still, it’s not crazy to imagine Skubal pitching Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, when the Cubs play the Dodgers.

Which uniform he would be wearing is the real question.

Harris was not able to attend the recent reunion of the 2016 champions at Wrigley Field, but one of his top lieutenants was front and center. Newly hired Tigers special assistant Kyle Hendricks wasn’t sent on a reconnaissance mission by Harris, though he was on the stage when Chairman Tom Ricketts inaugurated the Champions Gate by noting “it has plenty of room for future champions.”

Tom, meet the Professor. He might be able to help you add another year to the gate.

Ricketts didn’t specifically mention this year’s team when addressing the empty space reserved for championships, but presumably he believes the future starts now.

The 2026 Cubs have weathered injuries, a 10-game losing streak and prolonged slumps by high-priced stars to put themselves in strong position for a wild-card spot at the very least. Pete Crow-Armstrong is having a special season, starters Matthew Boyd and Imanaga have been peaking of late and the defense remains the gold standard.

Adding Skubal to the mix would be the greatest needle drop of Hoyer’s career, bringing an instant jolt of energy to a fan base that has been waiting patiently for a team that can make a long October run.

Last year’s mini-run included five playoff home games during which Wrigley Field was turned up to 11. It was an instant flashback to how insane things were in 2015 and ‘16, when a city danced to the Cubs’ beat. “The Lovable Reunion” podcasts of Anthony Rizzo and David Ross are bittersweet reminders of how good Cubs fans had it and how badly it all ended when the stars were traded, nontendered, retired or fired.

After a 4-2, 10-inning win Thursday against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cubs returned to start an important six-game homestand against the Yankees and Dodgers. It was already the most anticipated week of the year when the schedule was announced, and with Skubal’s name suddenly in the mix, the party-mode setting might never be turned off in Wrigleyville, barring some glitchy Wi-Fi.

Every season “is sacred,” Epstein said at the start of the original rebuild. Some are more sacred than others. So is this one of them?

If that’s the case, Cubs fans need to be loud and clear with their message to the decision-makers: How soon is now?

So go ahead, Jed. Eat that cake.

It’s not just empty calories.

©2026 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.