Competent teams around Major League Baseball often find ways to extend their young talent pre-arbitration.
The Cubs haven’t done so in over a decade, and there are question marks about who they could do it with, but if they believe their former top prospect is as good as many expected him to be, it could be in the plans.
Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic brought up the idea of extending Pete Crow-Armstrong now, helping them budget for the future.
“With their current budget structure, the Cubs front office would be wise to approach Crow-Armstrong about the possibility of an extension. There is always a risk that negotiations don’t go as hoped and the player comes away with a sour feeling about the organization. The player could also not live up to the hype,” Sharma wrote.
Crow-Armstrong has been an average player at the big league level.
He’s shown the ability to make plays in the outfield and has elite speed, but his bat hasn’t caught up to the rest of his game.
In his first full Big League season, he hit just .237 and struck out 98 times in 372 at-bats.
Posting an 88 OPS+ and a 2.3 WAR, the California Native has the ability to be a very good player one day, but there would be plenty of risk in giving him a deal right now, unless they agree to a decent price.