Giants sign former Dodgers trade acquisition that couldn't carve out role in LA

When the Dodgers designated Cavan Biggio for assignment on Aug. 5, it came to the surprise of almost no one. If anything, it felt overdue. The Dodgers had to keep Biggio around for a little longer than they probably planned to with Freddie Freeman's absence as he took care of his son at the end of July into early August, moving Biggio to first base in the interim.

Biggio batted .192 with a .635 OPS in his 30 games as Dodger, many coming during a particularly low point in LA's season, when they were without Freeman, Mookie Betts, and Max Muncy. The highlight of Biggio's stint was probably hitting a home run against the Astros in front of his dad, an Astros Hall of Famer, but other than that it was pretty easy to see why the Blue Jays cut him loose in early June.

He was released on Aug. 8, returning to free agent limbo. It was mildly surprising that any of the many down-on-their-luck teams didn't want to grab a veteran utility man off of waivers, but he's also never quite been able to make anything stick in the majors.

However, a Dodgers division rival has decided to give Biggio a second chance. The Giants signed him to a minor-league deal on Friday.

Cavan Biggio signs minor league deal with Giants after being DFA'ed and released by Dodgers

A minor-league deal sounds about right for Biggio. Between the Blue Jays and Dodgers, he's batting below .200 in the majors this year with five homers and 19 RBI over 74 games. He never quite got to everyday player status as a Blue Jay, with 97 games in 2022 and 111 in 2023, and he has a career average of .225 and OPS of .720. Although he's still a pretty good baserunner, his defense has dipped significantly over the past two years.

The Giants, who are playing .500 baseball this year and are 12.5 games behind the Dodgers, really had nothing to lose by giving Biggio a try. They could even call him up relatively soon if he can hit well enough in the minors, which would insure Matt Chapman at third base with Wilmer Flores' recent transfer to the 60-day IL.

It's nice that Biggio's getting another shot somewhere else, but it's also hard to ignore how good the Dodgers lineup looks without him (and the returns of those aforementioned key players, along with Tommy Edman). Whether or not he gets called up again this year, he won't have a chance at a revenge game against the Dodgers, as they won't see the Giants again this season.