The Chicago Cubs are less than a week away from the regular season, with fans as excited for this campaign and Opening Day as they’ve been in a very long time.

With a combination of new and old faces that have Chicago in as strong a spot to compete for a championship in a decade, the hopes are through the roof. A huge part of those hopes lie in center field with young budding superstar Pete Crow-Armstrong, fresh off a tremendous showing in the World Baseball Classic for Team USA.

The rumored extension talks between the Cubs and PCA have been a significant narrative throughout the offseason, but to this point, nothing has materialized. By the sounds of it, though, Chicago has not put their best offer on the table yet.

According to a story from Jon Heyman of the New York Post (subscription required), the organization is willing to go “significantly higher” than what they have put out there to this point. However, nothing is close to being finalized at this point yet.

Cubs willing to get serious after denied $75M offer

Back in November, news surfaced that Crow-Armstrong turned down an offer from Chicago during the season — a headline which got fans concerned — though it was only in the total range of around $75 million.

Given the kind of deals players are signing right now, this number was obviously a lowball figure for a guy who was a legitimate MVP candidate up until the All-Star break before a cold streak down the stretch left a sour taste.

Crow-Armstrong will not be eligible for free agency until 2031, so Chicago locking him up now would cost more in the short term, but in the long term, it would save a ton of cash while keeping him in Wrigleyville for potentially his whole career.

What it would actually take for Cubs to lock up Crow-Armstrong

In a realistic sense, Chicago’s offer of anything less than nine figures was a massive underpay, even if it would lead to Crow-Armstrong cashing in now. As arguably the best defensive player in all of baseball, who showed some incredible offense as well, his value is immense.

Anything less than double the initial $75 million offer to $150 million would likely not get the conversation started, and he really has a legitimate case to push it up to $200 million over eight or nine years.

The 23-year-old is going to be very wealthy eventually; it’s just a question of when. If the Cubs really are willing to go significantly further, the coming talks over the next year or so are going to be a true test of just how far.

Chicago would love to keep PCA in center field for the next decade, but time will tell if they are willing to do what it takes to make that happen.