Chicago Cubs sign CF Pete Crow-Armstrong to six-year, $115 million extension, buying out two years of free agency.
It’s wild to think that in just two years Crow-Armstrong went from an electric defensive prospect with major hit-tool concerns, to an All-Star, Gold Glover, down-ballot MVP votegetter, and Team USA representative… with major hit-tool concerns. The soon-to-be 24-year-old settled the question of whether he’d be able to tap into enough power, launching 25 homers while stealing 27 bases in the first half, while hitting .265/.302/.544 and leading the Cubs to first in the NL Central heading into the break. Cubs fans would prefer the second-half numbers, for both team and player, go unmentioned, and there’s no cost in being kind. But heading into 2026, things are looking up for both parties, and after all, PCA is years away from his peak.
Extensions like these are becoming an increasing standard for players among a certain echelon, a phenomenon that’s due to cause a certain cross-section of baseball’s fandom some distress. If not outright loan sharking, these extensions do tend to give off an aura of strong-arming, as teams offer solutions to an economic system that they, through a century of the reserve clause and half a century of bargaining to maintain its foundations, created themselves. These players don’t have to sign these deals, and also have every reason in the world to sign these deals, the same way that the self-employed are entitled to make their own decisions with regards to navigating the American health care system. Systems can be bad, and people still need to operate within them.
These concerns are both valid and not the purpose of this analysis. Last week Pete Crow-Armstrong was slated to be a Chicago Cub until my younger son got his learner’s permit; now he’ll be a Chicago Cub until he’s ready to leave for college. He’s one of the most exciting players in the sport, and no shortage of superlatives can be written about him. He’ll provide the foundation for what appears to be the next cycle of contention on the Northside, as the team made the NLDS last year and is projected by PECOTA to win the NL Central.
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