Last season, they thought Mauro Soto would be the short-term solution. They gave up on him after two months, eventually calling up Miguel 'Thrillseeker' Martínez to play the position. Martinez was a very capable stopgap, but even he would tell you that he doesn’t have the arm to play on the left side of the diamond.
During the offseason, Bob Breum made it clear that filling the shortstop job was his number one priority, but budget constraints prevented him from making a big splash in free agency. Instead, he settled for a platoon of two journeymen, 31-year-old Aniruddha Meenakshisundaram and 36-year-old Jeremy Webb on one year deals. They have performed perhaps better than could have been expected, on track for almost 3 WAR as a platoon.
Breum had no plans to address the position until after this season, but then Boise announced that they were entering a major rebuild and put Gold Glove shortstop Qutuz Mahdi on the block. Mahdi checked all of the boxes: not too old (he’ll turn 31 next month), highly durable, solid work ethic, and most importantly, a contract that fits within the team budget. He’s signed for three more years after this season, giving Montreal certainty at a critical position as they pursue their dreams of bringing a title to Montreal before their aging core is no longer competitive. As an added bonus, Mahdi is an extremely popular player in the BBA, and should help to keep the seats filled and the team store busy selling his #2 jerseys.
Qutuz Mahdi
Mahdi is a major upgrade defensively at shortstop. He has significantly greater range, and he excels at turning the double play. Given the Blazers’ groundball staff, he is expected to have a big impact on their team defense.
Montreal sent their #1 and #4 ranked prospects to Boise.
Right-handed starting pitcher Cisco Medrano is currently ranked as the BBA’s #36 prospect. He’s 2-1 with AAA New Jersey, having started 6 games with a 3.15 ERA.
Left-handed starting pitcher Mario Reyes is 7-1 with AAA New Jersey in ten starts, with an ERA of 2.49.
Also headed to Boise are catcher Jake Rising and shortstop Jeremy Webb. They were included in the trade to make the money work for Montreal, as the Blazers did not have enough cap room to absorb Mahdi’s salary otherwise. Boise sent $3 million to Montreal in the deal.
Montreal has called up 31-year-old catcher León Rosa from AAA New Jersey, and he is expected to make his BBA debut soon as the team’s backup catcher. A career minor leaguer, Rosa is a left-handed hitter with a reputation for solid defense.
