Blue Jays: Where Does Cavan Biggio Play in 2021?

Rumors and speculations are running rapid in the Blue Jays fan base and with several names being fantasized about, one player currently on the club will be impacted heavily in almost every scenario that plays out with a new player coming in.

It seemed as soon as the Blue Jays 2020 season ended, there were already rumors on how the team was going to get better for the 2021 season.

Whether it was reports of trade talks with the Cleveland Indians for Francisco Lindor, making a splash in the free agent market by signing George Springer, or simply by moving Vladimir Guerrero Jr back to third base.  Each of these situations and many more will have an impact on where Cavan Biggio will find himself playing in the upcoming season.  I will look at the potential positions that Biggio could end up playing.

In figuring out where Biggio could end up, I have to look at where he won’t be playing or where it is unlikely he’ll play.  The one position I can say with certainty is catcher as that is a specific position that he has no background playing and is an easy scratch off the list. The highly unlikely position is shortstop; as the only way Bo Bichette isn’t playing that spot next season is if they get an even better player in that position, and in that case Biggio isn’t taking that spot.  The third position, I would be very doubtful is right field.  The Blue Jays need to find spots for both Randal Grichuk and Teoscar Hernandez, so one of them will be penciled into that position each day.  Biggio could find himself in that position for the odd game, but not full-time for the entirety of the season.

So with three of the eight defensive positions off the table, I believe there is a possibility of Biggio playing any of the remaining five positions.

There’s no place like home

Second Base

The easy position for you to pencil Biggio in, would be at second base.  Biggio has now started 150 games through his first two seasons, and 116 (77%) of them have been at that spot on the field.  Biggio is not flashy, but plays the position very well, taking proper angles to cut off balls to keep in the infield.  The 25 year old made just three errors in that spot last year in 131 chances for a .977 fielding position, which as a comparison, Cesar Hernandez who won the Gold Glove this past season had a .981 fielding position.

The question is, in which situation does Biggio find himself playing that position in 2021?  As said before, the team has been rumoured to be in on acquiring Lindor, but they have also been speculated as a suitor to sign free agent Kolten Wong, who has won the National League Gold Glove for the last two seasons.  If the team acquires Lindor my belief is that Bichette would likely slide over to second base, and as such Biggio would have to move from that position.  If the team signs Wong it would likely to be the everyday second basemen which would cause Biggio to move.

If one of these situations were to occur, I would almost guarantee Biggio would be moving from the second base position.  However, if the team does not acquire Wong or Lindor you can likely expect Biggio to be back in the same position as last year.

What about the outfield?

Left Field

While many have speculated that Biggio is likely to play second base or centre field, I believe that left field is a position that you could see Biggio playing in 2021.  This situation comes back again to the team acquiring Lindor.  Everything that is being reported is that if Cleveland deals Lindor to the Blue Jays, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. would have to be part of the deal.  While I am a huge fan of Gurriel Jr. and love his bat, I do believe his defence was a littler overrated and he has struggled in his three seasons to stay healthy.  If Lindor is acquired, Bichette could slide over to second base and Biggio could move into the left field position.

Left field is a position that Biggio has played the least amount of the outfield spots, as he has played a combined two games and nine innings total over his first two seasons since being called up to Toronto.  When looking deep into those nine innings, he was perfect in five opportunities.  In all seriousness, the sample size of him in that position is too small to be able to say how he would play there.  What I would rely on is the fact I believe him to be the smartest player on the team and can pick up the position very quickly.

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The only scenario I see Biggio moving to left field is if Gurriel Jr. is traded, and that idea is not out of realm of possibilities.

Centre Field

The position that is the most up in the air on the Blue Jays is that of centre field.  Over the last two seasons the position has been mainly positioned by Randal Grichuk or Teoscar Hernandez.  Neither would be considered as above average at that position so the team is looking to upgrade the position.  The question is who are they looking at?

There have been rumors the Blue Jays would be all in on trying to sign George Springer to a massive contract and that is the ideal solution.  If they strikeout on Springer they could go after a lesser free agent in Jackie Bradley Jr, who would bring a higher level of defence than they have had in a couple years in that position.  If either of those scenarios occur, Biggio won’t be manning the middle outfield position.  If the team fails to acquire one of those free agents they could go with Biggio at that position.  Biggio started three games in centre field in 2020 and looked very comfortable as he made getting to flyballs look routine, which was because of quick reads and proper route.

If Biggio does move to centre field, he could be following in the footsteps of his father, Craig Biggio, who moved to being a full-time centre fielder in 2003 with the Houston Astros.

As you can see, what the Blue Jays have is a very diverse player that can play almost any position on the field.  Where do you see Biggio playing in 2021?