Pete Crow-Armstrong knew it was only a matter of when, not if, he would be able to find common ground with the Chicago Cubs on a long-term extension.
Fourteen months after Crow-Armstrong and the Cubs started contract discussions, the sides agreed to a six-year, $115 million extension through the 2032 season. The deal was officially announced after Thursday’s 10-4 opening-day loss to the Washington Nationals, but that outcome didn’t damper the mood Friday when Crow-Armstrong, with his parents Matthew Armstrong and Ashley Crow in attendance, tried to explain what it means to become rooted in Chicago.
“That’s the best part is knowing that I’m here, it’s where I wanted to be,” Crow-Armstrong said Friday. “And I’m just glad that that idea could be created and made into some real thing, getting to be here for the next six years, knowing that I’m going to be somewhere is the coolest thing ever when it’s somewhere that I’ve really wanted to be for a long time.
“There was never any pressure to get this done. Bottom line, they knew I wanted to be here. So with that, whenever this got done, it was going to be the right time, and I’m just grateful it got done when it did.”
Crow-Armstrong’s deal notably does not include any club options, which is rare with this type of extension that buys out the first two years of free agency. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said there were “a million different structures” the Cubs explored with Crow-Armstrong and his CAA agents. Those variations came down to either a deal that kept the 24-year-old with the organization for the rest of his career or through his first two free-agent years.
Ultimately, they settled on the latter scenario.
“I’ve never really gave a s— about how much I’m getting paid,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Obviously I think it’s important to make sure other center fielders get paid what they should get paid. But I don’t play this game for that.”
Contract conversations were initiated in January 2025 and ongoing until June, then picked up again in the offseason. Originally a deadline was set for when spring training games started, but enough progress and momentum had been made that discussions continued. A pause in negotiations during the World Baseball Classic allowed Crow-Armstrong to fully focus on the experience, with the last details being worked out once he arrived back at Cubs camp. Crow-Armstrong had support from his team during Friday’s news conference, where first baseman Michael Busch, manager Craig Counsell, hitting coach Dustin Kelly, assistant hitting coach John Mallee and staff assistant AJ Lewis took in the scene.
“It makes a lot of sense for us,” Hoyer said. “In a lot of ways, we kept our books exceptionally clean beyond this year. But obviously there’s players that we really do want to invest in beyond that and Pete clearly fits that category. So that was a pretty easy decision to want to extend him.
“One of the things that’s really great about Pete is … I don’t know if you want to say face of the franchise —sometimes that’s too strong — but I think that you want people to associate the Cubs with consistency, and you want them to associate with great players and exciting players. And Pete certainly fits that bill.”
The Cubs are buying into a player who already has shown he’s arguably the best defensive center fielder in the game and a great all-around talent still possessing upside. Crow-Armstrong, just beginning his third full season in the majors, already is a fan favorite and not just by Cubs fans; his jersey is No. 10 on the list of best-sellers among MLB players. He routinely takes time to sign autographs for kids waiting for him outside of Wrigley Field.
There’s an understanding that what he does on a baseball field extends beyond the numbers he puts up.
“We had five years of control but honestly felt like that wasn’t enough and wanted to make sure that, from a playing standpoint, from a brand standpoint, it was a really great thing for us to do,” Hoyer said. “It made a lot of sense. And he’s a really easy person to invest in, so it makes sense to do this now and to make sure that he’s wearing a Cubs uniform for a long time.”
Crow-Armstrong becomes part of a new Cubs core in this window of contention. With Nico Hoerner’s deal expected to be finalized over the weekend, for a reported six years and $141 million with deferrals, the Cubs are entering another exciting era for the franchise.
“This is one of the most unique baseball cities in the world, I would argue it’s the best,” Crow-Armstrong said. “But what Mr. (Tom) Ricketts has done so well is put this whole thing together with Wrigleyville and make a relatively big city feel very small when it comes to who they support. And it feels very personal, that’s been the coolest thing for me to learn about Cubs fans is the attention that they pay is real.
“The city means everything to me — they’ve been patient with me and my performance, and that’s definitely inspiring stuff when I wake up and I think about what I want to achieve every day.”