The Rundown: PCA Inks Extension, Latest Roster Predictions, Big Hurt Suing Sox

There’s nothing better than being about 30 seconds away from falling asleep and getting a notification that the Cubs had reached an extension agreement with Pete Crow-Armstrong. I received a text from a friend with a screenshot of Jeff Passan’s tweet, which was necessary because my Twitter account had been hacked and I’d been locked out of it. Hence the uber-brief post last night.

My social media access has been restored somewhat quickly, enabling me to delete the post about buying a new truck with hard work, crypto, and the help of a coach. Very odd stuff. Anyway, I’m back and happy to be another day closer to the regular season. With Thursday serving as a de facto negotiating deadline, the Cubs and agent Ryan Hamell of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) got a deal done.

While specifics of the deal have not been reported, it’s expected to be well north of $100 million and carry PCA beyond the current club control of anyone else on the team. Those have both been assumed about any hypothetical deal, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale — grain of salt warning — confirmed as much via sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

The deal is pending medical approval, which should be little more than a formality. Once finalized, it’ll make Pete Crow-Armstrong the third-highest-paid Cub in terms of total value and AAV behind Dansby Swanson ($177M/$25.285M) and Alex Bregman ($175M/$30.9M). Because the extension will buy out several years of his rookie deal and his arbitration years, PCA should earn a significantly lower annual salary than either.

Nightengale suggests that this deal is more than double the laughable $66 million offer he turned down last year, and it could run for as long as nine years. That means it’s at least $132 million, which would be right around the record nine-year, $135 million ($15M AAV) extension signed by the Padres’ Jackson Merrill signed last year. Nightengale also tweeted that PCA’s deal would make him the second-highest-paid Cub, which seems like an oversight.

In order for him to surpass Swanson’s AAV, the deal would have to be from six years and $152 million to nine years and $228 million. I find it hard to believe the Cubs would go $10 million AAV or nearly $100 million overall beyond the current largest deal for a player with between one and two years of service. It was never about trying to set a new precedent for PCA, just making sure he was paid fairly by today’s standards. He told Wayne Drehs as much during their interview for a Chicago Magazine cover story in February.

“I play the game because I like beating other people,” PCA explained. “The money will be life-changing regardless. I would like to get a fair deal so I don’t fuck the market up. I want to look out for the other center fielders who have to go through the same process. Which is why I’m glad [Cubs management] and my agents are figuring out how to do this.”

This was also about securing his future in Chicago, a city the young outfielder has fully embraced during his time there. He’s been spotted all over town at various sporting events, often with Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. Crow-Amstrong told reporters that he and Williams have talked about being something of a dynamic duo for a long time to come, and signing for nearly a decade proves he was serious.

“I saw what bringing playoff baseball back to the city meant,” PCA said. “That’s an easy, immovable goal. The fuck are you playing for if you’re not trying to play in the playoffs and win the World Series? There’s more to life than baseball, but maybe not for me right now. This shit is my life.”

We’ll update this and the previous blurb with additional details once they are available.

Cubs Still Actively Seeking Late Addition

In his latest roster prediction, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic has Dylan Carlson and Scott Kingery getting nods over Kevin Alcántara. Both spots remain up for grabs, however, as the Cubs are still actively scouring the market now that a number of players have hit waivers or exercised opt-outs.

“There’s just a lot of movement around the league,” Hoyer told reporters on Sunday. “We’re trying to figure that out. We still have some balls in the air.”

Kingery, a former top Phillies prospect who has played very sparingly since 2020, has gotten a lot of playing time this spring as a middle-infield fill-in. He could break camp with the team as a result of Seiya Suzuki‘s knee injury, which will push Matt Shaw into more of an outfield role for at least a week or so. The Cubs can backdate Suzuki’s IL stint to Monday, meaning he could only miss the first two series of the season before possibly being activated on April 3.

Call me crazy, but I’d much rather see the Cubs go with Kevin Alcantara to open the season, allowing Shaw to be more of an infielder. If they end up needing more help, they’ve already got Ben Cowles, Pedro Ramirez, and James Triantos on the 40-man roster. A spot can easily be made for Kingery by moving Tyler Austin to the 60-day IL, but Kingery will presumably be gone as soon as Suzuki is healthy.

That, or the Cubs could choose to send Carlson packing since they won’t need as much outfield help at that point. I can’t envision a scenario in which Kingery provides value in anything other than a temporary emergency role, though I suppose it at least allows those aforementioned prospects to get regular time in the minors. Alcántara, on the other hand, could patrol right for at least the first week before going back down.

More News and Notes

• Sahadev Sharma entered the bold prediction thunderdome with three potential outcomes that might need a healthy splash of hot sauce to fit the bill. I won’t share them all, but the first is that Cade Horton will be a Cy Young finalist.
• Frank Thomas is suing the White Sox, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Fanatics, and more for selling City Connect 2.0 jerseys with his name and number since April of 2025 without permission or compensation.
• The Rangers will carry Rule 5 pick Carter Baumler on the Opening Day roster. In an interesting twist, manager Skip Schumaker informed the righty reliever of his fate during a mound visit.

Skip Schumaker told Rule 5 pick Carter Baumler that he made the Rangers Opening Day roster during a mound visit ? pic.twitter.com/19J10vk39Q

— MLB (@MLB) March 24, 2026

• According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, increasing numbers of male athletes are repeating eighth grade as a “holdback” year to get more opportunities for lucrative NIL deals.
• While I don’t doubt that this is happening, it gives me the same vibes as the myths about parents having youth pitchers undergo elective Tommy John surgery just to get it out of the way and have them come back stronger. First, no legitimate doctor would perform such a procedure. Second, having TJ doesn’t guarantee future health. Third, the only reason they would come back stronger is that they focused intently on the rehab process, which they could do without surgery.
• Repeating eighth grade just for sports is a little different because it doesn’t require both parents and doctors to be ethically corrupt, but the schools are complicit if we’re talking about students who are academically and socially prepared for high school. If I had to guess, I’d say the parents engaging in this activity are among the large percentage who are delusional about their child’s likelihood of earning a D1 athletic scholarship.
• In a survey of 785 parents with children ages 6-17 conducted by researchers at The Ohio State University, roughly 27% believed an athletic scholarship was likely. Nearly 17% believed it was somewhat or very likely their child could be a professional or Olympic athlete.
• I will admit to falling in the 34% who believe their child could play at a small college, but that’s based on extensive research into D3 and NAIA rosters. While there are several factors involved, throwing 80+ on the mound is generally good enough to get you looks from those smaller institutions. You need to be 85+ for most D2 schools, with 90+ being the standard for D1. Obviously lots of gray area.

Trailer Time

I’ve shared this one before, but it’s getting another push because everything I have heard about Project Hail Mary is that it’s one of the best movies ever. Seriously, I’ve had multiple people expressing the highest praise possible for this movie. That’s why I’m going to see it tonight with my wife and son.