Column: The Chicago Cubs held a sell-off at the trade deadline while the St. Louis Cardinals were buyers. What if the North Siders went the way of their archrivals?

“Maybe not baseball-wise at that time, but we were contractually (different), where we are in the timeline of a team,” Hoyer said. “I think that played a huge role in the decision, and we knew that going into the season. We had so many free agents, if we weren’t clearly in the race, that was a decision we might have to make. For (the Cardinals), with their contractual situation, that wasn’t a road they were going to go down.”