Did the Cubs initially want a different player in the PCA trade?

Pete Crow-Armstrong has blossomed into one of the best players in MLB, accruing 5.8 FanGraphs WAR thus far in 2026 -- second only to Shohei Ohtani. Crow-Armstrong has used his elite defense combined with an improved offensive approach to reach this mark.

Of course, “PCA” wouldn’t be reaching these heights with the Cubs had he not been traded from the Mets in 2021 as part of a deal that sent Javier Báez and Trevor Williams back to New York.

As the Cubs played a four-game series at Citi Field in June -- with Crow-Armstrong playing at the level he has -- the trade came back into focus. Zack Scott, the acting general manager of the Mets at the time of the trade, joined the Break It Down Show this week and went in-depth on the move that sent Crow-Armstrong to Chicago.

“When you look back, it’s easy to say that was a bad trade long term,” Scott said. “And I’d say this, at the time, it’s certainly not a deal you feel good about doing long term.”

But Scott revealed that PCA wasn’t even the player the Cubs originally targeted in that trade. He said they wanted right-handed pitcher Matt Allan, a 2019 third-round pick who was MLB Pipeline’s No. 3 Mets prospect in 2021 but is no longer in affiliated baseball.

Scott said part of the reasoning for including Crow-Armstrong in the trade was a bias coming from his background working in the Red Sox front office. He said they didn’t like Crow-Armstrong in the 2020 Draft -- when the outfielder went 19th overall. Furthermore, Crow-Armstrong was rated as the fifth-best prospect in the Mets’ system, behind the likes of Francisco Alvarez, Ronny Mauricio, Allan and Brett Baty.

“And I can tell you, from talking to people in the industry, he wasn’t someone that teams really asked about,” Scott said. “And even the Cubs were asking reluctantly.

“He’d been drafted 19th, which isn’t usually where the top talent is. It’s usually in the top 15 picks. So, it doesn’t surprise me that the industry didn’t value him that early in his pro career.”

Scott said he viewed farm systems in a way he had learned from now-Phillies head man Dave Dombrowski. He’d identify one or two players that he felt had a good chance to be impact players, and every other player would be fair game. For Scott, Alvarez was that player. Other teams called frequently about Alvarez, as well as Baty, he said.

“Those are the guys that, in hindsight, maybe should have moved for some players -- not for rentals but for something else,” Scott said.

Crow-Armstrong has inarguably been the best player of that group since 2021. After breaking out a year ago with his first All-Star selection and a 30-home-run-30-steal campaign, PCA reached the 20-20 mark on Wednesday night and will play in his second All-Star game next week.

“And then the other players haven’t really panned out. But you look at that, and it’s like, well, the clear best player in the farm system at the time is now Pete Crow-Armstrong,” Scott said. “And I think if people were placing bets at the time, there would have been very few placed on him being that guy.”

Sometimes, it works out. Many similar deals have included prospects that never panned out. And Báez and Williams were productive players for a Mets team that led the NL East at the time of the trade.

In other similar situations, the Dodgers have traded Yordan Alvarez, the Rays have traded Cristopher Sanchez or the Guardians have traded Junior Caminero.

“If we moved Matt Allan instead, no one would be talking about it. And that’s just the unfortunate nature,” Scott said. “It’s rare that you actually get burned on those types of deals.

“We traded away a guy that, in my estimate, tripled his value in one year, which is impressive and not that common. And good for him. Obviously, it looks bad looking back.”

Other factors were involved at the deadline. Crow-Armstrong had shoulder surgery that raised questions about his ceiling, while Scott said he was operating with a mandate to stay under the Competitive Balance Tax threshold. Further, few saw the type of power in Crow-Armstrong’s bat that he’s displayed the past two years.

“I have spoken about that move in several places,” Scott said, “and I just own it as, ‘Here’s where I went wrong in the evaluation of the player.’”