{"id":647624,"date":"2026-03-28T00:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T00:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/647624\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T00:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T00:15:15","slug":"cf-embraces-future-with-chicago-cubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/647624\/","title":{"rendered":"CF embraces future with Chicago Cubs"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

Fourteen months after Crow-Armstrong and the Cubs started contract discussions, the sides agreed to a six-year, $115 million extension<\/a> through the 2032 season. The deal was officially announced after Thursday\u2019s 10-4 opening-day loss<\/a> to the Washington Nationals, but that outcome didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the best part is knowing that I\u2019m here, it\u2019s where I wanted to be,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said Friday. \u201cAnd I\u2019m 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\u2019m going to be somewhere is the coolest thing ever when it\u2019s somewhere that I\u2019ve really wanted to be for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere 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\u2019m just grateful it got done when it did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Column: Chicago Cubs got a bargain in Pete Crow-Armstrong\u2019s new deal, even as he\u2019s still growing as a player<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong\u2019s 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 \u201ca million different structures\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, they settled on the latter scenario.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never really gave a s\u2014 about how much I\u2019m getting paid,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cObviously I think it\u2019s important to make sure other center fielders get paid what they should get paid. But I don\u2019t play this game for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes a lot of sense for us,\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cIn a lot of ways, we kept our books exceptionally clean beyond this year. But obviously there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that\u2019s really great about Pete is \u2026 I don\u2019t know if you want to say face of the franchise \u2014sometimes that\u2019s too strong \u2014 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs are buying into a player who already has shown he\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an understanding that what he does on a baseball field extends beyond the numbers he puts up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had five years of control but honestly felt like that wasn\u2019t 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,\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cIt made a lot of sense. And he\u2019s a really easy person to invest in, so it makes sense to do this now and to make sure that he\u2019s wearing a Cubs uniform for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong becomes part of a new Cubs core in this window of contention. With Nico Hoerner\u2019s deal<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the most unique baseball cities in the world, I would argue it\u2019s the best,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cBut 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\u2019s been the coolest thing for me to learn about Cubs fans is the attention that they pay is real.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city means everything to me \u2014 they\u2019ve been patient with me and my performance, and that\u2019s definitely inspiring stuff when I wake up and I think about what I want to achieve every day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pete Crow-Armstrong knew it was only a matter of when, not if, he would be able to find…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,24,4245,10454,576,161,884,37,4,33,35,6550],"class_list":["post-647624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicagocubs","tag-contract-extension","tag-craig-counsell","tag-cubs","tag-jed-hoyer","tag-michael-busch","tag-mlb","tag-nico-hoerner","tag-pete-crow-armstrong","tag-tom-ricketts"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647624","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=647624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}