Cubs Rumors: Pete Crow-Armstrong is almost ready for the big leagues
Chicago Cubs prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong is one of the franchise's most popular up-and-comers for a reason. As one of the best gloves in the minors, PCA is a bona fide defensive dynamo.
The more questionable part of his game is his offense as the 21-year-old outfielder continues to try and improve his numbers at the plate.
Chicago Sun Times' James Fegan wrote that Crow-Armstrong still has work to do with the bat, perhaps by way of making slight swing adjustments and learning how to take high fastballs.
PCA, ranked as a top-15 prospect in baseball, just hit his third grand slam of the season last week and his first in Triple-A. The 2020 first-round pick by the Mets was promoted to the highest level of the minors in early August and has largely been hot and cold, sometimes going on a torrid hitting streak and sometimes delivering disappointing hitless performances.
If the Cubs are going to include PCA in their future lineups, he's going to have to see major improvements in his offensive production. In 32 games with Triple-A Iowa, Crow-Armstrong is slashing .289/.327/.431 with an OPS of .757, the worst numbers of his fledgling career.
The 21-year-old can elevate center field with his precocious defense, but can he step it up at the plate?
Cubs Rumors: Playoff odds dip following latest losses
The Cubs currently have a 65.2 percent chance of securing a wild card spot and an 85.2 percent chance of making the playoffs, per FanGraphs. And sure, why not throw in one more: The team has a 2.2 percent chance of winning the World Series.
First things first, the Cubs are staring down the barrel of a do-or-die stretch to end the season, and their last two defeats against the Arizona Diamondbacks have caused them to slip ever so slightly.
As of Saturday, the Cubs still hold a two-game lead over the D-Backs for the second wild card spot (they trail the Phillies, set to earn the first wild card spot, by two games).
Depending on the Cubs' afternoon result in the third game of the D-Backs series, the team could lose even more ground in the playoff race, and their wild-card hopes may feel less cushy.
If the 2023 season were to end today, the Phillies, Cubs, and D-Backs would make the postseason, in that order. The Marlins and Reds loom close behind; luckily for the Cubs, the Reds lost to the Cardinals recently and failed to capitalize on Chicago's brief setback.
These final two games against the D-Backs this weekend will prove critical in the Cubs' wild card race against a fellow NL playoff hopeful. The two teams will face each other again in a week, so expect the stakes to remain high throughout the first half of September.
Cubs Rumors: Team listed in top-10 landing spots for Shohei Ohtani
Don't count out the Cubs in the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes.
The Athletic's Jim Bowden gave his top ten landing spots for the Angels star this winter and had the Cubs listed as likely landing spot No. 8.
The Cubs are on the precipice of playoff baseball this season, and according to Bowden, the "shrewd" front office could make a tremendous splash in free agency by luring over Ohtani. The tag team of Thomas Ricketts, the Cubs' owner, and Jed Hoyer, the president of baseball operations, could make a joint decision to spend the majority of their resources on reeling in the Japanese phenom.
Bowden predicts that Hoyer "won't want to spend that much on any one player, but time will tell."
Even if Cubs star Cody Bellinger leaves in free agency, adding a generational talent like Ohtani will automatically spike the value of the franchise and make Chicago an even larger market in the NL Central.
The Dodgers, Rangers, and Mariners, among other teams, all precede the Cubs in the list of Ohtani's potential destinations, and at best, the Cubs are a very dark horse in the race to sign the soon-to-be free agent. In just about two months, the bidding shall begin.