On Friday, Craig Biggio signed a one-year, $4M contract extension that includes a $3M salary in 2004 and a $1M buyout on a $3M option for 2005. In addition to his base salary, Biggio will also reportedly receive $250,000 for reaching 450 PA and every 50 PA after that through 700 for a total of up to $1.5M each year. His previous contract was set to expire after the 2003 season.

This extension should allow the 37-year-old to play a couple more years while remaining with the only organization to which he's ever belonged. Houston drafted Biggio out of Seton Hall University with the 22nd overall pick of the first round of the 1987 draft. He made his major league debut on June 26, 1988 and has played for them for the last fifteen seasons.

When the two sides began discussions, many analysts indicated that they felt the Astros shouldn't give him an extension due to his age and the likelihood that they could procure more talent for a similar price. However though we are strong supporters of avoiding veterans to cut payroll, we don't feel Biggio falls into a normal "proven veteran" category due to his longevity with one team and continued productivity into his later years.

Biggio began his career as a catcher and spent four seasons behind the plate for the Astros. While not a sterling defensive player, he made the All-Star team in 1991 and looked set to anchor the Astros behind the plate for several years.

Instead Houston shifted him to second base in the hopes of letting him both reach a higher offensive peak and maintain that increased performance. The decision keyed Biggio to one of the most impressive stretches by any second basemen in history as he exceeded a .400 OBP as the Astros' leadoff hitter in 1994, 1995, 1997, and 1998. He won gold gloves from 1994 through 1997, finished in the top 10 in MVP voting in 1995(10th), 1997(4th), and 1998(5th), and only missed a total of four games from 1995 through 1998.

Aside from his excellence as a leadoff man by normal standards of on-base percentage and stolen bases, he also offered significant power. Biggio led the NL in doubles in 1994, 1998, and 1999, and his .500+ slugging percentages in 1997 and 1998 keyed the Astros to their first division titles since 1986. A year ago Bill James rated Biggio as the 5th best second baseman in history behind only Joe Morgan, Eddie Collins, Rogers Hornsby, and Jackie Robinson. While this is shockingly high praise given Biggio will play at least five years past James' ratings, Biggio has been rather underrated much of his career and will deserve serious Hall of Fame consideration after his retirement.

The downside of discussing his past performances is that he looks extremely unlikely to even approach his best numbers. Although he held a .380+ OBP in 2000 and 2001, he slipped to a .330 mark in 2002, and while he accumulated 100 strikeouts for the fifth time in the last six years, his walk rate fell below 10% for the first time in his career. His .775 OPS was 41 points below the league average and his OBP fellow to 15 points below the league average, a disastrous occurrence for one of the premiere leadoff men of his generation.

Given his statistical descent, the collected battering of six seasons at catcher and eleven seasons at second base, two of the three toughest defensive positions, and his position as one of the more durable players in recent memory, the odds don't suggest Biggio can maintain his current level of performance. Houston owes him $8M in 2003, and his extension raises their financial commitment to $16-18M over three years for a player unlikely to post above-average numbers even for a second baseman, forget about a centerfielder.

Yet Biggio's position as one of one of the two greatest Astros in Houston's 41-year history is more important than his future contributions. He's among their Top 10 career leaders in essentially every single statistical category. Biggio holds Astros' career records for games(2100), at-bats(7960), hits(2295), doubles(473), runs(1401), times on base(3472), and hit-by-pitch(214). He's second only to Jeff Bagwell in OBP(.377), total bases(3451), walks(963), strikeouts(1257), and extra-base hits(717) while finishing behind Cesar Cedeno in steals(381). Somehow he's even third in homers(195) and RBI(869) despite batting leadoff for the majority of his career. He played a central role in moving the Astros from the Ryan-Scott years to their emergence as an elite offensive team that finished first or second in the NL Central in seven of the eight years since the NL adopted the three-division format in 1994.

An extra $3-4M a year doesn't seem too much to retain a franchise icon, and the most surprising aspect of this deal is that Biggio didn't refuse to take a pay cut of over fifty percent. His apparent generosity also nearly guarantees that Houston will exercise Jeff Kent's 2005 option for $9M since the Astros will simply pay Kent a similar amount of money to Biggio's current deal while Biggio receives 3rd outfielder money. This reallocation of resources both placates their fans and insures that Bagwell, Berkman, and Kent will comprise the middle of Houston's lineup for the next three years at less money than what Texas will pay ARod over the same time.

Even though Biggio's 2002 performance barely would have ranked him among the top dozen NL centerfielders, nothing about this extension causes a monetary roadblock for Houston to remain an annual World Series contender. I doubt Biggio will cover less ground than Lance Berkman in center despite his reduced speed, so Biggio's move to the outfield should improve Houston's defense at a couple positions. More impressively, as the Astros moved him to second to preserve his offensive capabilities from defensive rigors, this change of positions again gives him less taxing defensive responsibilities. Biggio will justify this contract simply by remaining at his current level of performance for the next few years, and by 2005 his career numbers should insure we'll see him in Cooperstown within the next decade.