The Chicago Cubs found a real gem when they acquired center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong in what has been called the great Cubs purge of 2021.
Brought over from the New York Mets as an injured 19-year-old top prospect for shortstop Javier Baez and pitcher Trevor Williams, the scouting reports for “PCA” glowed. But, in retrospect, they seem to have undersold the young talent’s full potential– at least if this season is an indication of who he really is.
This year, Crow-Armstrong has proven himself to be a true multi-tool threat, competing at an elite level at just about every aspect of the game.
Not only is the 23-year-old playing Gold Glove-caliber defense (despite a couple of wind-related miscues in Saturday’s game against the Seattle Mariners), but he’s crushing the ball with power and scorching on the base paths.
With 21 home runs and 23 stolen bases as of this writing, the sophomore star is projected to comfortably make the 40/40 club for this 2025 campaign. It’s not inconceivable that he could be a 50/50 guy.
Extending Pete Crow-Armstrong
A growing superstar in the sport, the Cubs have already tried to secure his career services with a contract extension. That offer, reportedly worth in the neighborhood of $60-$70 million, was declined at the time.
But that doesn’t mean PCA wants to play anywhere else when his current contract ends after the 2030 season.
In a recent interview with “Mully and Haugh” on 670 The Score, the Cubs center fielder affirmed that he intends on remaining a Cub for a lifetime of baseball.
“That’s the goal,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I think what’s important to me is being somewhere I feel convicted in winning at. And then obviously where I feel comfortable playing and living for a long period of time…
I absolutely think that Chicago is a place to do that for me. I already take so much pride in being a Cub, and what comes with that. Any way that we can get me here for a while, I think, would be ideal…
“And until then, I’m just focusing on this year. I would take a World Series this year over everything else, if I’m being honest. I see myself doing that here for years to come.”
An indispensable piece of the Chicago Cubs
PCA has definitely made himself an indispensable piece of the franchise in a short period of time. Fans will put extreme pressure on the Cubs front office to bend over backwards to extend him and keep him in Chicago over the career long haul.
However, the pending free agency of right fielder Kyle Tucker and the soon-to-be-ending contracts of Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Nico Hoerner, and James Taillon (among others) complicate matters.
Still, Crow-Armstrong is proving to be a special talent and, therefore, one deserving of special consideration.
“He’s playing at as high a level that I’ve seen a center fielder play,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell recently told reporters. “We’re 70 games in but how he’s playing it, it’s as good as I’ve seen.”
“You don’t know what his ceiling is,” Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona told ESPN, not too long after once again being burned by the hot hand of the young asset.
“He can do it all. I hear people say he doesn’t walk and everything, but that’s probably how he’s a good hitter. He’s aggressive. He can beat you with his legs. He can hit the ball out of the ballpark. He can go get the ball in center.”
A lifetime Cub?
His explosive play and propensity for hitting everything– literally everything, way out of the strike zone or not— makes him a compelling player…and one who will fill seats for years and years to come.
If PCA wants to stay a Cub and the Cubs want to keep him, there’s no real reason a deal can’t be reached.
In a best case scenario, Chicago could clear up two business issues by celebrating a Tucker extension alongside a Crow-Armstrong extension, thereby cinching up two-thirds of an all-star outfield for at least the next decade.
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