Pete Crow-Armstrong had no idea that the Mets once attempted to get him back — and for Pete Alonso, no less.
“I did not know that,” Crow-Armstrong said on Friday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, chuckling at the revelation. “That’s awesome.”
It also happens to be true. Although it was never close — or even close to close — to becoming a reality, the Pete-for-Pete discussion is a fun one to chat about. The magnitude of both players, who will be National League teammates at next week’s All-Star Game, is what makes it so.
Let’s first rewind to 2020. That year, the Mets made Crow-Armstrong their first-round pick (19th overall). The following May, he underwent shoulder surgery, ending his first season in pro ball.
Meanwhile, the Mets were under new ownership, had just acquired and then extended a franchise cornerstone in Francisco Lindor, and were in contention at the trade deadline. The front office, wanting to convey to fans and players alike that they believed in the team, traded Crow-Armstrong to the Chicago Cubs for Javier Baez.
Even in retrospect, it’s easy to understand the impulse. Baez played well for the Mets, posting an .899 OPS in 47 games. But he and Lindor also flashed an infamous thumbs down sign at fans, and he left as a free agent for Detroit. The Mets fell out of contention in August.
Over the next few years, Crow-Armstrong solidified his status as a top prospect. He debuted with the Cubs in 2023, and has broken out this season as a superstar.
It was in 2023 that the Mets and Cubs had their brief chat about him. That was the trade deadline in which then-GM Billy Eppler executed an impressive selloff, aided by Steve Cohen’s willingness to absorb salary as a way to turn veterans into prospects.
Eppler and his front office were serious about trading Max Scherzer (to Texas for Luisangel Acuña), Justin Verlander (to Houston for Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford), along with David Robertson and Tommy Pham for intriguing lower-level prospects.
The Mets were not particularly serious about trading Alonso, who would become a free agent after the following season. But they owed it to themselves to answer calls about him, just to see what other clubs would offer.
That openness led to conversations with several clubs about Alonso. The Milwaukee Brewers called, but did not get close to a deal.
During this time, the Mets front office hatched a brief, outside-the-box idea. What about calling the Cubs to feel them out about Pete for Pete? The Cubs were known to have liked Alonso, and rumored to be weighing a pursuit of him.
According to league sources with direct knowledge of the situation, the call was made. The conversation was brief. The answer was no.
It’s no knock on Alonso that the Cubs passed. It was about the specific concept. Good luck finding any team willing to trade a rookie centerfielder with star potential for less than two seasons of a slugging first baseman.
Flash forward to today. Alonso re-signed with the Mets for another year, chasing Darryl Strawberry’s franchise home run record. Crow-Armstrong is the face of the new Cubs. After a few lean years in Detroit, Baez will also be at the All-Star Game.
The only dangling thread lingers in center field for the Mets. The team is still looking to fill that position.
But maybe everything worked out the way it needed to?
“It was not a disappointment at all,” Crow-Armstrong said about the trade from the Mets to the Cubs. “I was looking for anything good to happen. I was still relatively early on in the rehab process when I got traded. The change of scenery ended up being important.”
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