Pete Crow-Armstrong’s new deal with the Cubs is already looking like a bargain, and it hasn’t even kicked in yet.
Chicago locked up its center fielder this spring on a six-year, $115 million extension that runs through at least 2032. The timing matters, because PCA is in the middle of a season that has him stacking up National League MVP recognition with a year that has simply been absurd.
The Cubs also made sure they didn’t stop with Crow-Armstrong. President of baseball operations quickly quieted plenty of noise by reaching another major long-term agreement, this one with Gold Glove infielder Nico Hoerner on a six-year, $135 million deal. That move kept Hoerner from reaching free agency with Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki at season’s end.
Add in the big free-agent signing of Alex Bregman, and Chicago suddenly has the kind of core that can carry the next half-decade or so. That’s the backdrop for why the latest chatter out of Cincinnati feels so different.
According to Reds beat writer C. Trent Rosecrans, Elly De La Cruz has “bigger ambitions” than spending his entire career in Cincinnati. He reportedly passed on the biggest contract in Reds history last offseason, and even while he remains the face of the franchise, the long-term picture around him is getting murkier.
De La Cruz has still been productive this season, entering Tuesday with 5.1 bWAR and a 25/25 campaign on his ledger. He’s only 24 and under team control through 2029, so this is not an immediate goodbye. But it is easy to see a path where the Reds eventually move their young star.
Unless ownership changes, and Reds fans have been asking for that for years, the relationship feels like it has an expiration date. That stands in sharp contrast to the Cubs, who have put themselves in position to build around a stable, expensive, and very real foundation.
If De La Cruz never lands elsewhere in the NL Central, whether by trade or free agency, that only helps Chicago in the long run. And while the outcome of this winter’s CBA talks is still another variable, the short-term picture is pretty clear: the Cubs are in a much better place than they were before these extensions, and the PCA deal looks even smarter with every passing development.
In Other News...
Pete Crow-Armstrongs MVP Rise Started With One Big Change
Pete Crow-Armstrongs breakout season has given the Cubs exactly the kind of star turn they have spent years hoping to see, and the latest surge only added to the sense that something bigger is unfolding. In a recent game, he launched two home runs and added a triple, pushing his OPS to .956 and layering more milestones onto a year already packed with them. He now owns the Cubs record for most single-season home runs by a left-handed hitter and has tied Ernie Banks for the most homers by a Cub before age 25 with 44.
Behind the power, though, there has been a quieter evolution that helps explain why this has looked sustainable rather than fleeting. Hitting coach Dustin Kelly has pointed to better plate discipline, more selective aggression and Crow-Armstrongs ability to do damage across the strike zone as the foundation of the jump. For the Cubs, the appeal is obvious: this is not just a hot streak from a young player, but a version of him that seems built to keep forcing pitchers into tough choices. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs Face A Justin Steele Decision That Could Shape October
Justin Steeles rehab path has taken another encouraging step, and for a Cubs club still sorting out the back end of its staff, the timing matters. After left elbow surgery, Steele has worked through minor league starts and logged his best outing yet, enough to put his status back into the conversation as Chicago pushes deeper into the season.
The question now is whether the Cubs see enough to bring him back in a bullpen role for the postseason chase or decide the safer move is to keep waiting. The organization already opted to shut down Shelby Miller in a similar situation, which makes Steeles next turn feel especially important as the front office weighs short-term help against long-term caution. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs May Face A Brutal Matt Shaw Decision This Offseason
The Cubs are heading into an offseason that could reshape a lot of the roster, with the entire starting rotation among the groups set to hit free agency and several position players joining them. That kind of turnover puts pressure on the front office to find pitching help, and it also forces some hard conversations about which younger pieces can be moved to fill the biggest needs.
Matt Shaw has become part of that discussion because of his versatility, which makes him useful to the Cubs and appealing to other clubs at the same time. Teams such as the Mariners and Blue Jays have been floated as possible fits if Chicago decides to use Shaw as a trade chip, but for now it remains a matter of fit and leverage, with no deal actually lined up and the bigger question still hanging over how far the Cubs are willing to go to patch the rotation. [Read more 🡒]