Should the Astros add the son of a Houston legend now that he’s been DFA’d?

Anyone who has followed the Houston Astros for any length of time knows Astros legend Craig Biggio. The Hall of Famer eclipsed 3,000 hits and slashed .281/.363/.433 while playing his entire 20-year career with the Astros. In a fun twist, the Astros might have an opportunity to bring a member of his venerable lineage back to Houston.

Biggio’s son, Cavan Biggio, broke into the majors with much fanfare as an infielder with the Blue Jays and finished in the top five in Rookie of the Year voting in 2019. However, subsequent seasons weren’t as kind and he dealt with injuries, leading Toronto to DFAing Biggio after he began the 2024 season with a .614 OPS.

The real question now is: Should the Astros take a chance on young Biggio now that he’s available for free? The answer is not as simple as you might think.

Despite his offensive shortcomings in recent years, Biggio is not a useless player. He has real experience at virtually every position on the field and was highly regarded as a presence in the Toronto clubhouse, which is exactly why Toronto kept him as long as they did in the hope that he can change things on the ground.

In terms of marketing and storytelling, the Astros taking a chance on Biggio would be incredible considering his father’s history in Houston. However, the problem is that Biggio has been scouted by big league pitchers and is not a guy who is going to do damage if you throw strikes at him. He has shown some pop at times, but his contact profile consists primarily of slow ground balls.

There are a lot of teams that would love to have a team leader on the bench who can play a ton of different positions. The problem is that Biggio isn’t a particularly good defender at any of those positions, and the Astros already have Mauricio Dubon and Trey Cabbage as super utility guys who can play all over the field. With Dubon and Cabbage already in the fold and Houston needing to find playing time for the recalled Joey Loperfido, adding Biggio would only create headaches on the roster, no matter how good the story is.

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