What a difference a month makes as Cubs fans flip on a Pete Crow-Armstrong extension

What a wild run it’s been for budding Chicago Cubs superstar Pete Crow-Armstrong. At the beginning of the season, he struggled at the plate while showing off some of the best defensive skills in Major League Baseball. And then came reports that Jed Hoyer and the front office were trying to lock the outfielder down long term. The one term that was concrete was that they were offering $75 million. Just how many years, though, remains a mystery.

But that number, for a player who was struggling to hit it out of the infield, let alone out of the park, was too rich for many Cubs fans. It seems that PCA turned down whatever deal the club was offering. He banked on being too good for just $75 million. Turns out he was right.

Cubs fans now likely wish Pete Crow-Armstrong took the deal

The Chicago Cubs outfielder is currently the second most valuable player in the Bigs in fWAR. His 3.0 ranks behind only Aaron Judge and outpaces stars like Shohei Ohtani, Bobby Witt Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr.

And now, just a little over a month after reports of extension talks surfaced, Cubs fans’ takes on a potential deal look pretty wild. Most of those felt he wasn’t worth anywhere near the $75 million contract.

The most prevalent take when the report first surfaced was very similar to this one:

Feinsand, among the first to report the deal, has a thread that is littered with comments both from Cubs fans and members of other MLB fanbases saying that PCA simply wasn't good enough for a big money deal.

The crazy part is that it was hard to blame people who were unconvinced he was worth a large contract. His numbers, even with a solid turnaround late in 2024, looked rather unimpressive considering he was hitting .200 with a .523 OPS. As of Monday morning, he's up to .290 with a .909 OPS thanks to 12 home runs, 12 doubles and three triples. He's also already got 14 steals after totaling 27 all of last season.

Just five weeks after the first Pete Crow-Armstrong extension reports surfaced, after most Chicago Cubs fans were skeptical at best about so much money for an unproven commodity; the vast majority would have absolutely loved to get a deal done.