When news broke over the weekend of the Padres-Marlins trade that sent Luis Arráez to San Diego, it was fair to wonder what the deal meant for the Cubs.

It’s rare to see an early-May trade of that magnitude in baseball, with a two-time batting champ changing teams. So does that mean we could be seeing an early-moving trade market this year?

With Arráez in town this week as the Cubs host the Padres at Wrigley Field, Jed Hoyer fielded questions about his team’s place in the trade market.

“Unfortunately for [the media], I don’t think that means we get three months of trade season,” Hoyer deadpanned. “That was kind of a rare one-off. My guess is that was discussed in the offseason.

“There’s not a lot of deals available this time of year. From that standpoint, we’re in touch. We’re on the phone with everybody but I think you expect you have to at least get more into the season for the most part until those things become a reality.”

The Marlins are off to a 10-26 start to the season and sitting in last place in the NL East. They have other valuable trade chips — including closer Tanner Scott, who would be a perfect fit for the Cubs as a veteran left-hander capable of pitching in the late innings.

But Hoyer doesn’t believe the trade of Arráez signals some sort of immediate sell-off in Miami.

“I knew that trade was in the works,” Hoyer said. “I’ve been talking to the Marlins — just in general, you talk to different people. So that [deal] wasn’t a surprise.

“But I don’t expect that to kick off like a ton of early deals. I think it’ll maybe be earlier than usual but it’s not going to be all of a sudden in mid-May, everyone’s making a bunch of trades. I don’t expect that to happen.”

The Cubs opened the week tied for 1st place in the NL Central with a 21-14 record. That’s despite a plethora of injuries to key players and an unreliable bullpen.

As Hoyer looks at his team, the answer is clear right now where the weakness lies.

The starting pitching has been excellent and just welcomed back Justin Steele Monday night.

The offense has been inconsistent, but that is the nature of baseball in general — and especially in 2024. The lineup is about to get reinforcements as Cody Bellinger is in line to return this week and Seiya Suzuki won’t be far behind.

Improving the bullpen is where Hoyer’s front office is focusing its attention right now, though the Cubs president of baseball operations also pointed to recent history as a reason to be patient with this group.

“Last year, the same exact guys struggled for a period going through May and then they kind of gelled later in the season and pitched well,” Hoyer said. “So hopefully that can happen.

“And then obviously we’ll be looking for external [help]. But that stuff is generally not available this time of year. So the focus right now is on getting healthy and improving guys that might be struggling.”

[WATCH: Hoyer addresses the media at Wrigley Field]

Hoyer is pointing to the Cubs bullpen that underwent similar struggles at this same point last year. The closer to start the season was Michael Fulmer, but he experienced some hiccups before Adbert Alzolay took the role and ran with it through the rest of the season.

Alzolay has lost the closer’s role this season and the Cubs have also been down Julian Merryweather, who was a huge part of the bullpen’s success last year.

With Steele’s return to the rotation, that moves Ben Brown to the bullpen and strengthens the overall pitching staff.

But as this season goes on and the trade market heats up, expect the Cubs to be shopping for bullpen help.