Cubs predicted to part ways with $35 million two-time Gold Glove infielder as consequence of possible Pete Crow-Armstrong extension originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
It’s no secret Pete Crow-Armstrong is a future franchise star for the Chicago Cubs, and luckily, he’s shown he wants to stay as he has asked for an extension. However, a player of his caliber will demand a big contract, so the Cubs might have to do some house-cleaning in order to afford him.
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Fansided’s Zachary Rotman predicts that one way that the Cubs will clean is by parting ways with two-time gold Glove infielder Nico Hoerner. Hoerner has been the center of Chicago trade talks for a while now, and it might come to fruition with a possible PCA extension.
“Should the Cubs be letting Hoerner walk? Absolutely not. He doesn’t have the power that Happ and Suzuki do, but he’s elite at just about everything else. He’s one of the three best second basemen in the sport overall, and is on the right side of 30. It’s just hard to ignore the trade rumors…Again, this isn’t what the Cubs should do. I can argue that Hoerner should be a bigger priority to extend than Crow-Armstrong, given his proximity to free agency. This is about predicting what will happen, and there’s reason to believe that if the Cubs extend Crow-Armstrong, they’ll look to cut long-term costs in other ways, and that could mean replacing Hoerner with Shaw at the keystone,” Rotman wrote.
This past season, Hoerner slashed .297/.345/.394/.739 with 29 doubles, seven home runs, and 61 RBI. And with two Gold Gloves to his name, he’s arguably the best defensive second baseman in baseball.
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With Hoerner finishing off a three-year, $35 million deal, there’s a chance he might be open to taking a team friendly deal in order to stay. However, since he won both of his Gold Gloves during this past contract, he might not.
Hopefully, the Cubs find a way to keep Hoerner, but if they can’t, they need to deal him in order to at least get something in return for letting him go.
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