{"id":645832,"date":"2026-03-27T04:11:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/645832\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T04:11:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:11:56","slug":"chicago-cubs-got-a-bargain-in-pete-crow-armstrong-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/645832\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs got a bargain in Pete Crow-Armstrong deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

To no one\u2019s surprise, the loudest cheers during Thursday\u2019s opening-day introductions at Wrigley Field were reserved for Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for Crow-Armstrong to bind himself to Cubs fans \u2014 or for the Cubs to realize they needed to keep him around as long as possible to keep the Wrigley Field ATM running smoothly.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Crow-Armstrong\u2019s six-year, $115 million extension,<\/a> which was announced shortly after the Cubs\u2019 10-4 loss to the Washington Nationals, is considered a steal for the organization.<\/p>\n

Photos: Opening day for Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Even as Crow-Armstrong still has something to prove offensively, there\u2019s no disputing his stellar fielding and box-office power. The Cubs\u2019 future now will depend on his ability to add to his growing legend, and that\u2019s a bet President Jed Hoyer was willing to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving Pete on our side and having him around is important to our success, and a guy like that, it\u2019s wins,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cHe\u2019s got another challenge ahead of him now, but he\u2019s ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong will speak to the media about his new deal Friday afternoon at the Cubs offices next to Wrigley. His contract will take him through 2032, two seasons after he was scheduled to hit free agency.<\/p>\n

Had he played it out through 2030, there\u2019s no telling how much the Cubs would\u2019ve had to pay to keep him, but Crow-Armstrong obviously wanted to be a Cub as much as they wanted him. Ditto second baseman Nico Hoerner, who also agreed to a six-year deal<\/a> after Thursday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

The last time the Cubs rewarded a young player with a long-term deal that quickly was in 2013, when they handed 23-year-old Anthony Rizzo a seven-year, $41 million deal<\/a> that also included two $14.5 million options through 2021, which were later exercised.<\/p>\n

Rizzo was arguably even a bigger gamble than Crow-Armstrong, who has 41 homers and 141 RBIs in 294 games as a Cub through Thursday, not to mention a Gold Glove and a starting appearance in an All-Star Game.<\/p>\n

At the time of his signing, Rizzo \u2014 whom the Cubs had acquired from the San Diego Padres after the 2011 season \u2014 had played only 124 games in a Cubs uniform, with 24 home runs and 76 RBIs. He had slumped early in 2013 but finished April with eight home runs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a nice month having eight homers,\u201d manager Dale Sveum said. \u201cAt least that\u2019s kept him probably insane.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, we all knew what Sveum meant, even though Rizzo was always a little crazy.<\/p>\n

Rizzo said afterward the contract negotiations had been a \u201cweight\u201d on him, and he was glad to get them over with.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last couple of days it\u2019s been so nice to play baseball,\u201d he said upon signing. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m playing Little League right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

That deal worked out well for the Cubs, who got cost certainty early in the rebuild, won a championship three years later and watched Rizzo evolve into an All-Star. And while Rizzo was happy to have the security at age 23, he wound up underpaid for most of the contract and couldn\u2019t come to an agreement with the Cubs on a second extension in 2021, leading to his trade to the New York Yankees that summer.<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong no doubt is happy with the deal, which provides security, even as some guessed it would wind up in the $150 million range. It\u2019s a lot of money for a 24-year-old with his entire career ahead of him, and he\u2019ll be a free agent again at 31.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s exciting and he\u2019s wired right,\u201d former Cubs manager David Ross said of Crow-Armstrong, who was called up at the end of the 2023 season. \u201cHe\u2019s a good kid. I like how he interacts with fans. He\u2019s a special one. He can go get it in the outfield, and those center fielders are hard to find.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong\u2019s teammates were happy to see him rewarded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said congrats,\u201d shortstop Dansby Swanson said. \u201cBut then I was just making sure he understood I was no longer involved in picking up dinner.\u00a0There were probably a couple other stupid, trash-talking things I said, but obviously I\u2019m really happy for him and for this whole organization, just knowing what Pete means not only to this team but this city. He really embodies what it means to be a Cub.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batting cleanup, Crow-Armstrong went 2-for-5 with two RBIs in the opener, which started out well for the Cubs and quickly disintegrated \u2014 just like the weather \u2014 in the Nationals\u2019 six-run fourth inning.<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong had a go-ahead RBI single in the third and a run-scoring bunt single in the seventh while also striking out twice and popping out in the fifth with two men on, showing frustration over his at-bat, a common occurrence.<\/p>\n

\"CubsCubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong breaks his bat in frustration after popping out against the Nationals in the fifth inning on opening day Thursday, March 26, 2026, at Wrigley Field. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Do the Cubs believe he eventually will stop getting visibly upset with himself over failures at the plate, or is that just part of his persona?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want him to grow out of some of it but not all of it,\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cHe\u2019s always going to be emotional. If we tried to turn him into (being) stoic, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a great thing for him. That\u2019s not who he is ever going to be. I\u2019ve tried that myself. It doesn\u2019t work for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I want him to have emotions. I want him to do that. I think over time he may not show it as much externally. But everyone has to be themselves. I don\u2019t think anyone ever thinks it comes from a bad place. It comes from a place of competitiveness and what he expects from himself. I think over time some of that will lessen, but he\u2019s never going to be a flatliner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Rizzo, Crow-Armstrong always looks like he\u2019s playing in Little League, making him easy for kids to love. Fans already have weighed in on Crow-Armstrong, whose jersey was the 10th-highest seller in 2025, according to MLB and the MLBPA.<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong not only can relate to Chicago fans, he counts himself as one of them, spending part of the winter at Bears, Blackhawks and Bulls games while developing a friendship with Bears quarterback Caleb Williams.<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong and Williams figure to be running buddies in this town for a while, assuming Williams gets his much-deserved extension<\/a> next offseason.<\/p>\n

After what Chicago sports fans went through at the start of this decade, the end of the 2020s finally are looking much brighter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To no one\u2019s surprise, the loudest cheers during Thursday\u2019s opening-day introductions at Wrigley Field were reserved for Chicago…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2399],"tags":[3882,5,138,24,4245,576,161,887,884,4,33,1406,15381,81939,35],"class_list":{"0":"post-645832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-anthony-rizzo","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-cubs","12":"tag-chicagocubs","13":"tag-craig-counsell","14":"tag-cubs","15":"tag-david-ross","16":"tag-jed-hoyer","17":"tag-mlb","18":"tag-nico-hoerner","19":"tag-opening-day","20":"tag-pca","21":"tag-pca-extension","22":"tag-pete-crow-armstrong"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116299193222937304","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}