{"id":504224,"date":"2026-02-28T01:19:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T01:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/504224\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T01:19:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T01:19:25","slug":"cubs-notes-crow-armstrong-amaya-rolison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/504224\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs Notes: Crow-Armstrong, Amaya, Rolison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring training is a common time for extensions but it doesn\u2019t seem like there\u2019s too much smoke between the Cubs and Pete Crow-Armstrong<\/a>. The outfielder was asked about the topic on Foul Territory<\/a> this week but downplayed the urgency. \u201cThere will be talks, there have been talks,\u201d he said. \u201cBut at the same time, we\u2019re not really in any rush to do anything. I\u2019d like to keep it that way just \u2019cause I\u2019m going to go out and play regardless\u2026 There\u2019s bigger fish to fry right now than getting me paid.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs and Crow-Armstrong had some extension talks around this time last year. At that time, he had almost one full season under his belt. In 2024, he showed off his speed-and-defense floor but with subpar offense.<\/p>\n

Since then, he has raised his stock, as he got his offense above league average in 2025. He still didn\u2019t draw many walks but he did hit 31 home runs, helping him put up a .247\/.287\/.481 line and 109 wRC+. That came in inconsistent fashion, however. He hit 25 of those homers in the first half, with 17.6% of his fly balls clearing the fence. The league average home run to fly ball rate was 11.9% last year. In the second half, that rate regressed to 7.8% for Crow-Armstrong, leading to just six long balls after the break.<\/p>\n

The overall season was strong but it\u2019s fair to be a bit skeptical about his offense going forward. His 4.5% walk rate last year was higher than just four other qualified hitters in the league, so he needs to provide value when he puts the bat on the ball. That happened in 2025 but with a season-long 14.2% home run to fly ball ratio that was a few ticks above par. Statcast had his hard hit rate and average exit velocity in the 42nd and 43rd percentile, respectively, so the extra home runs may have been backed by a bit of luck.<\/p>\n

What he can provide at the plate going forward is up in the air but the speed and defense are legit. He swiped 35 bags last year and got excellent grades in center. He has a tremendous floor but the ceiling is more of a question. Whether he and the Cubs can line up on a price point for an extension remains to be seen. His service time count is at one year and 170 days, just two days shy of the two-year mark. That means he can be controlled for five more seasons but is essentially a lock to be a Super Two guy after this year, giving him four arbitration seasons instead of the standard three.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on the roster, catcher Miguel Amaya<\/a> has been doing some first base drills, per Bruce Levine of 670 The Score<\/a>. Amaya has a bit of first base experience from the minors but not much lately. In the past four seasons, his time at the position was just two games at Double-A in 2023.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a logic to seeing if Amaya is viable at first, as it would expand the versatility of the roster. It seems likely that the Cubs will carry three catchers, with Carson Kelly<\/a> and Mois\u00e9s Ballesteros<\/a> also there alongside Amaya. The only one of the three who can be optioned is Ballesteros, but he hit so well last year that the Cubs seemingly want him to get into the designated hitter spot with some regularity.<\/p>\n

That could leave Amaya somewhat squeezed behind the plate but there\u2019s a path to some at-bats at first. The Cubs have Michael Busch<\/a> slated to be the regular first baseman but he\u2019s a lefty who hasn\u2019t hit southpaws yet. The Cubs were planning on having Tyler Austin<\/a> serve as Busch\u2019s right-handed platoon partner but Austin recently had knee surgery and is going to miss months.<\/p>\n

Amaya hits from the right side but has reverse splits in his career thus far. He has a .254\/.321\/.416 line against righties but has hit just .193\/.256\/.298 against lefties. That makes him a less than ideal platoon partner for Busch but his ability to play the position could still help the Cubs. Theoretically, they could have someone like outfielder Chas McCormick<\/a> hit for Busch late in games, then have someone else come in to play first base. Even putting the platoon issues aside, they don\u2019t have a clear backup first baseman while Austin is out.<\/p>\n

Levine also relays<\/a> that left-hander Ryan Rolison<\/a> has caught the attention of manager Craig Counsell<\/a> early in camp. Rolison was just claimed off waivers from the White Sox last month. He has a 7.02 earned run average in his big league career so far, which is obviously not impressive. But he\u2019s coming off a good season in the minors with the Rockies. The former first round pick logged 29 2\/3 innings in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League last year with a 3.34 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 48.8% ground ball rate.<\/p>\n

Even if he has a good spring, it\u2019ll be hard for him to earn an Opening Day spot. As MLBTR\u2019s Steve Adams just explored in a piece for Front Office subscribers<\/a>, the Cubs are one of the teams in the majors with the fewest players likely to be optioned. In the bullpen, they project to open the season with guys who can\u2019t be optioned in six of the eight spots. Of the other two, one of them is closer Daniel Palencia<\/a>, who isn\u2019t getting sent down. The other is Javier Assad<\/a>, who could end up in Iowa but the Cubs may be reluctant to send him down after he\u2019s been solid for the past few years.<\/p>\n

Rolison still has one option remaining, so he\u2019ll probably start the season in Triple-A. Even if that\u2019s the case, injuries are inevitable over a long season, so perhaps Rolison will be well positioned to get the call when the time comes. Caleb Thielbar<\/a> and Hoby Milner<\/a> project as the bullpen lefties to open the season. Rolison, Luke Little<\/a> and Riley Martin<\/a> are optionable lefties on the 40-man.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spring training is a common time for extensions but it doesn\u2019t seem like there\u2019s too much smoke between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,42957,462,14257,156446,82],"class_list":["post-504224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-miguel-amaya","tag-mlb","tag-pete-crow-armstrong","tag-ryan-rolison","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}