Geoff Blum to retire, join Astros' TV booth

Veteran infielder Geoff Blum is expected to announce his retirement from baseball soon, as he will hang up his uniform in exchange for a spot in the Houston Astros' broadcast booth, reports Brian McTaggert of MLB.com:

Geoff Blum, who played five years with the Astros in two separate stints with the club, has reached an agreement to join the club's television broadcast team, a source has told MLB.com.

Blum is expected to be behind the microphone for about 60 games a year this year, filling the role of color analyst when Bill Brown isn't in the booth...

An official announcement could come next week.

Including his two stints with the Astros -- with whom he spent the most time -- Blum played for six different organizations in his 14 years of Major League Baseball. The switch-hitting infielder began his career with the Montreal Expos, then bounced around to Houston, Tampa Bay, and Chicago -- where he earned a World Series ring -- before finding his way back to Texas.

The 39-year-old capped off the final two seasons of his career in a part-time role with the Arizona DIamondbacks. He appeared in just 40 games over the last two years because of knee, hand, and abdomen injuries, hitting .195/.267/.312 in 86 plate appearances.

The archetypal replacement-level player, Blum amassed just 1.6 bWAR in his decade-plus of big-league ball -- never once reaching 2.0 WAR in a season. He retires as a .250/.310/.384 hitter and falls a single long-ball shy of 100 for his career.