Pete Crow-Armstrong’s All-Star story almost never happened in Chicago

Pete Crow-Armstrong's breakout season with the Chicago Cubs set the stage for his All-Star showcase on Tuesday night, but it was almost a moment that never came to be. Sharing the field with New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso on Tuesday night, the two current All-Stars were nearly traded for one another at the MLB trade deadline in 2023.

Andy Martino of SNY shared a story about the 2023 deadline, revealing the Mets approached the Cubs about a trade that would have landed them Alonso in exchange for Crow-Armstrong.

"They didn’t get close to anything, but in the Mets’ office, they hatched an idea that was like ‘Let’s just see.’ So they called the Cubs and said, ‘What about Pete (Crow Armstrong) for Pete (Alonso)? Send him back our way.’ Because the Cubs liked Alonso. And obviously, that’s a very short conversation … (as the Cubs shot them down).”

Credit to our friends at Bleacher Nation for the transcription of Martino's story.

This trade that never happened could’ve cost Cubs Pete Crow-Armstrong

It's no secret that the Cubs once had an interest in Alonso, with the initial report being the two teams had initial talks at the 2023 deadline before tabling the discussions until the offseason. Of course, the Cubs traded for Michael Busch that offseason, and it's a decision that looks better with each passing day.

Of course, there is some irony that the Mets asked for Crow-Armstrong, considering the belief across baseball is that they were fleeced by the Cubs in 2021. Crow-Armstrong, a former Mets' first-round draft pick, was traded to the Cubs at the deadline in 2021 for Javier Baez and Trevor Williams. A deal that has aged in the Cubs' favor.

Had the Cubs made the deal, who knows what their 2025 roster would look like as Crow-Armstrong wouldn't be a MVP candidate in center field, and Busch likely wouldn't have been acquired. There's also no guarantee the Cubs would have re-signed Alonso when he was a free agent this past offseason.

Also, credit to Jed Hoyer, who doubled down on the belief in Crow-Armstrong by immediately rejecting a deal that would have been a clear answer to their biggest need at the time.

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