The Chicago Cubs have one of the highest payrolls in the game of baseball and they play in the third-largest television market in the country behind Los Angeles and New York.
With such a high payroll, the Cubs should be spending money to attract some of the big-name free agents, but that hasn’t happened, as ownership has let big-name free agents pass them by.
Spending big money doesn’t only occur during the off-season but when contract extensions are given out during spring training and the beginning of the season.
The Cubs have a few candidates eligible for a contract extension, but could they get done given how adverse ownership and the front office are to spending money?
How does one player’s contract extension affect the Chicago Cubs?
The San Deigo Padres recently signed their star centerfielder, Jackson Merrill, to a lucrative contract extension earlier this week, making him the third highest-paid centerfielder in Major League Baseball.
The Padres signed Merrill to a nine-year deal worth $135 million with a club option for a tenth year.
The 23-year-old Merrill is one of the bright young stars in the game and earned every penny of the deal after being named an All-Star, finishing ninth in the MVP award voting, winning a Silver Slugger award, and finishing runner-up to Paul Skenes for the Rookie of the Year voting.
Merrill’s lucrative deal could benefit someone like Pete Crow-Armstrong, who is the same age as Merrill and has the same ceiling as him. The only difference is PCA didn’t have the best season last year as Merrill did.
PCA is considered one of the Cub’s bright young stars as Merrill is for the Friars.
Rumors circulated over the off-season, that PCA would be in line for an extension, but Merrills new deal could throw a wrench in those plans given the Cub’s hesitant to spend money.
An extension for PCA?
PCA enters his third year in the league and has shown flashes of becoming a star but hasn’t put it all together yet.
To date, Crow-Armstrong has played in 145 games where he has a career slash line of .226/.282/.286 for an OPS and OPS+ of .645 and 82.
In contrast, PCA has shown he’s one of the better defensive centerfielders in the game, posting a career .991 fielding percentage at the position and having a positive defensive run-saved at 14.
Given centerfield is a premium position, having someone of his defensive prowess is hard to come by and is not easily teachable.
Now, PCA won’t get anywhere near what Merrill got, given Merrill is looking like he’ll be a superstar. PCA can reach Merrill’s status but is more comparable to someone like Cedric Mullens of the Baltimore Orioles or Tommy Edman of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
If PCA can become the offensive player the Cubs think he can be, he could be looking at a contract similar to that of Michael Harris II of the Atlanta Braves (eight years $72 million) or Tommy Edman (five years $74 million).
A few others need extensions ahead of PCA
The one player who needs an extension more than PCA is the Cubs’ biggest off-season acquisition Kyle Tucker. Tucker is expected to be a free agent at the end of this season and will be in line for a payday.
A massive haul was given up to get Tucker and only having him for one season won’t do if the Cubs want to have a winning club for years to come.
The Cubs will need to lock Tucker up first before anyone else to ensure they’re a playoff-caliber team.
Locking PCA and Tucker to long-term deals would be ideal but it doesn’t seem likely.
Hopefully, the Cubs can agree on an extension with Tucker and then move over to PCA, but time will tell if that will happen.
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