NEWSLETTER
Until now, it’s been reserved for the speculation and hopefulness among Chicago Cubs fans.
But now the Chicago Cubs’ own General Manager has said it’s on the table: top Cubs prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong COULD be up with the big league team this year.
When asked just now on 670 The Score’s Parkins & Spiegel whether PCA would be a September call-up for the Cubs, Carter Hawkins said, “Certainly at this pace, he’s in the conversation.”
Hawkins pointed to how well PCA has been performing at the plate, and of course how well he runs the bases and plays defense. That’s a skill set that can really help a team making a postseason push in September.
To be sure, Hawkins hedged by pointing out that there are a lot of guys at Iowa who could help the Cubs this year, and with call-ups being limited to just 28 (it used to be the full 40-man roster), that makes things a little more difficult. But it was clear from his discussion that Pete Crow-Armstrong is in the mix.
And why wouldn’t he be? Keep in mind, you’re not talking about having PCA come up to ignite the offense at the most critical time of the year. You’d be talking about him coming up as a complementary piece, and an excellent value off the bench. He gets a little big league exposure in the process, and maybe helps the Cubs in some late-game situations and an occasional start. It’s win-win-win all around.
The only thing you wouldn’t love about it is the 40-man roster spot PCA would therefore take up all offseason long, when he otherwise wasn’t Rule 5 eligible and you could’ve waited until next year to do it. Generally, you don’t want to do that, but let’s be real: we’re talking about a playoff push here. I’m not saying “all bets are off,” but if you really believe PCA can help you make the postseason, then you bring him up and don’t think twice.
So, on the balance, I do believe this is a real conversation. I don’t think it’s a done deal, of course, because you’re ultimately talking about just one position player call-up (one extra player will be a pitcher, the other will be a position player). Maybe Cubs decide they’d rather have Matt Mervis’s lefty power off the bench. Or Luis Vazquez’s infield glove. Or maybe they want to give Yonathan Perlaza a look. So on and so forth.
It’s fun that PCA is on the table, though.
