Weeks of negotiations ended on Friday with the Houston Astros' announcement that they have agreed to terms of a one-year deal with second baseman Craig Biggio worth $5.15 million. The contract will likely be the final one for Biggio, although he left the door slightly open for a return in 2008.

"I'm not going to answer that right now," Biggio said. "We'll see what happens over the course of the season, and there will be ample time to let everybody know."

First things first. The long-awaited 3,000th hit is looming, and based on his '06 performance, Biggio, who enters his club record 20th Major League season next year and will turn 41 on Dec. 14, should have the 70 hits he needs for the milestone sometime in late June or early July next year.

Biggio listed that milestone hit as the second most important goal he has in 2007.

"No. 1 is to get back in the postseason," he said. "We saw what happened with the Cardinals. You get hot at the right time and you see what can happen. That could have been us this year. That's the No. 1 goal. The No. 2 goal, obviously, we're pretty close to 3,000. It's a nice thing for myself, but I want it for my family. And [who] I really want it for is I want it for the people in the city of Houston. I think they deserve it, they deserve to have it.

"I'm going to do everything humanly possible that I can to get that for them. That would be the ultimate payback for me and my family to get back to the fans, and say thank you for all of the support over the years."

The negotiations took longer than expected, and money, typcially, was the issue. With the haggling portion of the process out of the way, Biggio, accompanied by his wife, Patty, and daughter, Quinn, were all smiles, as were club owner Drayton McLane, general manager Tim Purpura and two dozen Sunshine Kids from Biggio's cherished charity, who lined up in a row in front of the podium.

The interview room at Minute Maid Park was transformed into a Craig Biggio shrine, complete with 20 poster-size action photos that spanned his entire career, plus a billboard size backdrop featuring two lifesize action shots with a giant number "7" in the middle.

Biggio chuckled as he gazed at the more dated photos.

"I feel like I look like my oldest son, Conor," he said. "Twenty years will change you."

Purpura ran down a list of little-known facts about Biggio's two-decades long career in Houston. Among the notables: Since Biggio's debut in June of 1988, he's played with 325 Astros teammates. And, he's run a total of 22 miles over the course of 637 trips to second base as the club leader in doubles.

McLane recently hosted a front-office field trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and Purpura spent much of his time envisioning where the Astros will fit in five or so years from now.

"One of the things that really touched me to think about was Craig's name in the Hall of Fame, and Jeff Bagwell's name in the Hall of Fame," Purpura said.

Said McLane: "Over the years, I've had the great pleasure of developing a great friendship with Craig. He is my official adviser at times." Laughing, he added: "I could say unpaid, but I don't think that's true.

"We've talked about players, leadership, character and what it takes to make a team go. He and Jeff Bagwell, I have said literally hundreds and hundreds of times, they have been the heartbeat of the Houston Astros."

Amidst the warm and fuzzy tone of this press conference were a few glaring on-the-field facts. Biggio had a subpar season in '06, hitting .246 over 145 games. He hit .280 before the All-Star Game, but only .201 in the second half. A .193 average in both August and September contributed heavily to that dip.

Biggio is confident that if he stays healthy, he will reach the 3,000 hit mark. He chalked up his rough times last year to "a bad two months."

"I stunk for two months and that's part of baseball," he said. "I've done that before when I was younger, too. I understand that and I learned some things from it. You say, what did you learn after 20 years? But you continue to make changes and adjustments.

"If I stay healthy, I believe I'll be able to get there. It's one of those things you don't want to jinx yourself, either. You just want to play the game, and I'm a firm believer in things happening for a reason."

Biggio is also not worried that the pressure as he nears the milestone hit will affect his game.

"Hopefully, it's meant to be," he said. "If it's meant to be, we're going to get there. If it's not, we're not. I'm going to play the game to do what we have to do to win. If you've got to bunt, you've got to bunt."

Then, with a grin, the Major League leader in plunkings added, "If you've got to stick your arm out ... that's what we're going to do."

Biggio was somewhat nostalgic as he talked about what could be a monumental year in his accomplished career.

"I remember sitting on the plane as a rookie and looking up at this guy's head, and it was Nolan Ryan," he said. "I'm sitting up there saying, 'Man, wouldn't that be cool if I could play 24 years in the big leagues?' Here we are, 20 years later, with the same club. I pinch myself every day."