At the 2021 trade deadline, the New York Mets took a risk, trading top outfield prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for half a year of Javier Baez and Trevor Williams. Baez was excellent in his brief Mets tenure, and Williams was instrumental the following season, but the deal began to look bad for New York when Crow-Armstrong's prospect stock was rising. Now, it looks even worse given the year the outfielder is having on the North Side.
As it turns out, the Mets attempted to right their wrong of trading Crow-Armstrong back in 2023, as SNY's Andy Martino reported this week that the team thought about offering Pete Alonso at that year's trade deadline to get the outfielder back.
“Under the Billy Epler regime, this is the trade deadline in 2023, you remember, of course, they traded Max Scherzer, and David Robertson, and Justin Verlander, and Tommy Pham. They weren’t that eager to trade Pete Alonso at that time. In fact, that got in the news a little, and that was overstated at the time…But they felt like, because of what they were doing as an organization, they owed it to themselves to at least take calls on Pete and see if anyone would offer something they couldn’t pass up. They didn’t get close to anything, but in the Mets’ office, they hatched an idea that was like ‘Let’s just see.’ So they called the Cubs and said, ‘What about Pete (Crow Armstrong) for Pete (Alonso)? Send him back our way.’ Because the Cubs liked Alonso. And obviously, that’s a very short conversation."
You read that right: The Mets actually considered offering Alonso for Crow-Armstrong one-for-one at the 2023 trade deadline and were immediately turned down after they broached that idea to Chicago's front office.
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Mets almost made ultimate sacrifice in attempt to right previous wrong
Given how Crow-Armstrong has performed this season, it isn't hard to see why the Cubs immediately turned that offer down. Not only is he the elite defender and base-runner he's always been, but he's also offered elite value with the bat. He was an All-Star starter and could easily be the MVP favorite in a world where Shohei Ohtani didn't exist.
Parting with Alonso would've been an interesting outcome, as he had an extra full season of club control and has been one of the league's most prolific sluggers since he debuted in 2019, but the Cubs chose to bank on Crow-Armstrong's potential and valued his position far more. Turning a sure thing down for a prospect is a risk, but it proved to be worthwhile.
For Mets fans, it's hard to get over what this team could've looked like with Crow-Armstrong in the mix. Even if they had to sacrifice Alonso to bring him aboard, having more than half a decade of a budding superstar is far more valuable than potentially a couple of years of a slugging first baseman. An outfield consisting of Crow-Armstrong alongside Juan Soto and Brandon Nimmo for years to come is certainly drool-worthy.
Cubs made out like bandits by rejecting blockbuster offer
Alas, while the Cubs would've had a nice short-term gain with Alonso over Crow-Armstrong at the time, there's a good chance they would've traded a star for a grand total of zero playoff wins, given Chicago's roster was not good enough to win two years ago. Jed Hoyer has made his share of mistakes during his Cubs tenure, but every button he's pushed with PCA has been the correct one.
What can easily be overlooked here is that the Cubs passing on Alonso also allowed them to pursue a trade to acquire Michael Busch from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Busch isn't as big of a name as Alonso, but he's arguably been as good or even better than Alonso this season, and is younger with more and cheaper club control. He's an under-discussed Cubs cornerstone.
Again, the entire Crow-Armstrong experience with the Cubs couldn't have worked out any better for Chicago. They stole him for just a couple months of Baez and held onto him even when they could've gotten Alonso, thus gifting them an opportunity to acquire Busch. It'd be hard to ask for a better turn of events.