A former New York Mets phenom, now a Cubs star, secures a massive extension after a breakout year, a move highlighting New York's costly gamble.
The New York Mets have been one of the most aggressive teams in baseball in recent years, and it’s why they’ve enjoyed some success over the past few seasons, including a 101-win season in 2022 and a National League Champion Series run in 2024.
There are downsides to being such an aggressive team, however, and the Mets have certainly seen their fair share of that as well. They’ve finished with losing records in three of the six seasons since 2020, including a horrible collapse at the end of last year. Each year that a deep run isn't made is a failure for a team like New York.
Of course, there’s also the literal costs of being an aggressive team. It takes huge amounts of money to sign star players and big packages that include top prospects to trade for star players.
A week before the 2026 season begins, the Mets are still paying that cost today. It comes as former top outfield prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong is finalizing a contract extension with the Chicago Cubs – the club he was traded to from New York in 2021.
Though the extension details have yet to surface, it’s certainly bound to be a big one after Crow-Armstrong's breakout 2025 campaign. At 23 years old last season, PCA put up 6.0 WAR thanks to his 31 home runs, 95 RBIs, 35 stolen bases, and elite defensive play. He received All-Star honors for the first time in his career and took home a Gold Glove award.
New York traded PCA, their No. 5 prospect at the time, for star shortstop Javier Baez and right-hander Trevor Williams in an aggressive move at the 2021 trade deadline. Sitting eight games above .500 at the midway point of the season, the Mets were trying to bolster their roster in anticipation of a deep postseason run.
That run never came, however, as the 2021 Mets crumbled in the second half, finishing with a poor record of 77-85 and 11.5 games out of a postseason spot. With that late-season collapse, the Mets had nothing to show for trading a top-five prospect away. Baez walked away in free agency that offseason, while Williams stayed for just one year, where he posted 1.4 WAR.
Meanwhile, for PCA, he got his first full season in 2024 with Chicago, where he laid the foundation for his breakout season last year. Now, he’s cemented his spot as one of the league’s premier center fielders and is deservedly getting a big payday with his new extension.
The Mets won’t reap any of the benefits from PCA after trading him away for practcially 47 games of Baez and no postseason appearance. Though the Mets are in a great spot heading into 2026 thanks to yet another aggressive offseason, PCA will remain a name for Mets fans cringe at for years to come.