{"id":158835,"date":"2026-03-02T11:07:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T11:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=158835"},"modified":"2026-03-02T11:07:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T11:07:50","slug":"%f0%9f%9a%a8-cubs-payday-controversy-pete-crow-armstrong-projected-for-a-jaw-dropping-125-million-extension-but-locking-him-up-could-force-the-franchise-to-trade-away-fan-favorites-and-sab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=158835","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8 CUBS PAYDAY CONTROVERSY: Pete Crow-Armstrong Projected for a Jaw-Dropping $125 Million Extension \u2013 But Locking Him Up Could Force the Franchise to Trade Away Fan Favorites and Sabotage Payroll for Years!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2240009355-e1759977840361.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2240009355-e1759977840361.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2240009355-e1759977840361.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2240009355-e1759977840361.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong Predicted to Earn $125 Million Extension\" width=\"780\" height=\"441\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Geoff Stellfox\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong delivered a huge hit in their season-saving win Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Chicago Cubs have an emerging star in MLB on their roster. Pete Crow-Armstrong burst onto the scene in 2025 with his charismatic personality and upbeat mindset about playing the game of baseball. Pair that with a strong, productive season in \u201925, and \u201cPCA\u201d is now gaining traction about earning a big contract extension.<\/p>\n<p>Oftentimes in MLB, teams across the league like to lock down some of their best players before Opening Day, or shortly after, just to avoid any conflict about a potential contract extension down the road. Pete Crow-Armstrong has emerged as a strong candidate for a contract extension, and FanSided\u2019s Chris Landers recently predicted PCA will earn a seven-year deal worth $125 million.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Should Pete Crow-Armstrong Get This Extension?<\/h2>\n<p>Landers predicts that PCA could garner a contract extension that well exceed $100 million:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPCA, by contrast, has played 280 games over the last two years. Something in between those two numbers seems right: Crow-Armstrong\u2019s defense gives him a high floor, but he also wasn\u2019t the prospect that Carroll was and comes with some question marks about his bat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are several comparable center fielders across MLB that further prove this deal to be fair on both sides. Some of those names that earned large extensions pretty quickly in their career are Corbin Carroll, Julio Rodriguez, Jackson Merrill, and Byron Buxton.<\/p>\n<p>PCA hit .247 in his breakout 2025 season with 31 home runs, 35 stolen bases, and 37 doubles. Crow-Armstrong has played in 293 total games in his career, and holds a .240 average with 41 homers and 143 RBI.<\/p>\n<p>There has been chatter from both the Cubs and Pete Crow-Armstrong\u2019s management about a potential deal, and one could be reached here shortly as Opening Day approaches quickly.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>What Should the Cubs Do with PCA?<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_5541329\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2240009355-e1759977840361.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=782\" alt=\"Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong Predicted to Earn $125 Million Extension\" width=\"782\" height=\"442\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5541329\" data-lazy-load=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5541329\">Geoff Stellfox\/Getty ImagesCubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong delivered a huge hit in their season-saving win Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>There are two decisions the Cubs could make with Pete Crow-Armstrong ahead of the season. First, agreeing to a long-term deal that would keep him in Chicago for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n<p>However, Chicago could also opt to let the 2026 season play out for at least a couple of months, and judge based on that level of continued production to see how much they want to ink on his deal.<\/p>\n<p>Landers has a very solid evaluation of PCA as a player, but sometimes contract talks can stall out if both sides are not willing to meet at a certain price, so it wouldn\u2019t be shocking either for the Cubs to want PCA to prove himself a little further before committing to him long-term.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Geoff Stellfox\/Getty Images Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong delivered a huge hit in their season-saving win Wednesday. The Chicago Cubs have an emerging star in MLB on their&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\ud83d\udea8 CUBS PAYDAY CONTROVERSY: Pete Crow-Armstrong Projected for a Jaw-Dropping $125 Million Extension \u2013 But Locking Him Up Could Force the Franchise to Trade Away Fan Favorites and Sabotage Payroll for Years! - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=158835\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\ud83d\udea8 CUBS PAYDAY CONTROVERSY: Pete Crow-Armstrong Projected for a Jaw-Dropping $125 Million Extension \u2013 But Locking Him Up Could Force the Franchise to Trade Away Fan Favorites and Sabotage Payroll for Years! - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Geoff Stellfox\/Getty Images Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong delivered a huge hit in their season-saving win Wednesday. 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