Column: Chicago Cubs got a bargain in Pete Crow-Armstrong deal

To no one’s surprise, the loudest cheers during Thursday’s opening-day introductions at Wrigley Field were reserved for Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong.

It didn’t take long for Crow-Armstrong to bind himself to Cubs fans — or for the Cubs to realize they needed to keep him around as long as possible to keep the Wrigley Field ATM running smoothly.

That’s why Crow-Armstrong’s six-year, $115 million extension, which was announced shortly after the Cubs’ 10-4 loss to the Washington Nationals, is considered a steal for the organization.

Even as Crow-Armstrong still has something to prove offensively, there’s no disputing his stellar fielding and box-office power. The Cubs’ future now will depend on his ability to add to his growing legend, and that’s a bet President Jed Hoyer was willing to make.

“Having Pete on our side and having him around is important to our success, and a guy like that, it’s wins,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s got another challenge ahead of him now, but he’s ready for it.”

Crow-Armstrong will speak to the media about his new deal Friday afternoon at the Cubs offices next to Wrigley. His contract will take him through 2032, two seasons after he was scheduled to hit free agency.

Had he played it out through 2030, there’s no telling how much the Cubs would’ve had to pay to keep him, but Crow-Armstrong obviously wanted to be a Cub as much as they wanted him. Ditto second baseman Nico Hoerner, who also agreed to a six-year deal after Thursday’s game.

The last time the Cubs rewarded a young player with a long-term deal that quickly was in 2013, when they handed 23-year-old Anthony Rizzo a seven-year, $41 million deal that also included two $14.5 million options through 2021, which were later exercised.

Rizzo was arguably even a bigger gamble than Crow-Armstrong, who has 41 homers and 141 RBIs in 294 games as a Cub through Thursday, not to mention a Gold Glove and a starting appearance in an All-Star Game.

At the time of his signing, Rizzo — whom the Cubs had acquired from the San Diego Padres after the 2011 season — had played only 124 games in a Cubs uniform, with 24 home runs and 76 RBIs. He had slumped early in 2013 but finished April with eight home runs.

“It’s a nice month having eight homers,” manager Dale Sveum said. “At least that’s kept him probably insane.”

Well, we all knew what Sveum meant, even though Rizzo was always a little crazy.

Rizzo said afterward the contract negotiations had been a “weight” on him, and he was glad to get them over with.

“The last couple of days it’s been so nice to play baseball,” he said upon signing. “I feel like I’m playing Little League right now.”

That deal worked out well for the Cubs, who got cost certainty early in the rebuild, won a championship three years later and watched Rizzo evolve into an All-Star. And while Rizzo was happy to have the security at age 23, he wound up underpaid for most of the contract and couldn’t come to an agreement with the Cubs on a second extension in 2021, leading to his trade to the New York Yankees that summer.

Crow-Armstrong no doubt is happy with the deal, which provides security, even as some guessed it would wind up in the $150 million range. It’s a lot of money for a 24-year-old with his entire career ahead of him, and he’ll be a free agent again at 31.

“He’s exciting and he’s wired right,” former Cubs manager David Ross said of Crow-Armstrong, who was called up at the end of the 2023 season. “He’s a good kid. I like how he interacts with fans. He’s a special one. He can go get it in the outfield, and those center fielders are hard to find.”

Crow-Armstrong’s teammates were happy to see him rewarded.

“I said congrats,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “But then I was just making sure he understood I was no longer involved in picking up dinner. There were probably a couple other stupid, trash-talking things I said, but obviously I’m really happy for him and for this whole organization, just knowing what Pete means not only to this team but this city. He really embodies what it means to be a Cub.”

Batting cleanup, Crow-Armstrong went 2-for-5 with two RBIs in the opener, which started out well for the Cubs and quickly disintegrated — just like the weather — in the Nationals’ six-run fourth inning.

Crow-Armstrong had a go-ahead RBI single in the third and a run-scoring bunt single in the seventh while also striking out twice and popping out in the fifth with two men on, showing frustration over his at-bat, a common occurrence.

Do the Cubs believe he eventually will stop getting visibly upset with himself over failures at the plate, or is that just part of his persona?

“We want him to grow out of some of it but not all of it,” Hoyer said. “He’s always going to be emotional. If we tried to turn him into (being) stoic, I don’t think that’s a great thing for him. That’s not who he is ever going to be. I’ve tried that myself. It doesn’t work for everyone.

“So I want him to have emotions. I want him to do that. I think over time he may not show it as much externally. But everyone has to be themselves. I don’t think anyone ever thinks it comes from a bad place. It comes from a place of competitiveness and what he expects from himself. I think over time some of that will lessen, but he’s never going to be a flatliner.”

Like Rizzo, Crow-Armstrong always looks like he’s playing in Little League, making him easy for kids to love. Fans already have weighed in on Crow-Armstrong, whose jersey was the 10th-highest seller in 2025, according to MLB and the MLBPA.

Crow-Armstrong not only can relate to Chicago fans, he counts himself as one of them, spending part of the winter at Bears, Blackhawks and Bulls games while developing a friendship with Bears quarterback Caleb Williams.

Crow-Armstrong and Williams figure to be running buddies in this town for a while, assuming Williams gets his much-deserved extension next offseason.

After what Chicago sports fans went through at the start of this decade, the end of the 2020s finally are looking much brighter.