June 2012 - Toronto Blue Jays Wiretap

Maicer Izturis is the favorite to win Toronto's starting second base job, according to general manager Alex Anthopoulos.

The 32-year-old signed a three-year contract with the Blue Jays, and his ability to also play shortstop and third base should prove to be a valuable asset in 2013.

The Blue Jays have made several splashes this offseason, but the health of Jose Bautista has rarely been discussed.

Bautista has hit more home runs than any other Major League player since 2010.

He missed virtually the entire second half of 2012 after sustaining an injury to his left wrist just four days after the All-Star break. Eventually, he underwent surgery to repair a damaged tendon sheath in his left wrist.

The Blue Jays maintain that their right fielder will be ready for spring training, but there may be reason to believe it won't be quite the same guy taking the field in 2013.

"If you have surgery on your fingers or your hands, it is so easy to screw up the mechanism," says Edward McDevitt, an orthopedic surgeon and member of the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine.

"And if you're a professional baseball player, where the ability to use your fingers and your hands is so critical to holding a bat ... it's not always easy to come back."

J.P. Arencibia received assurance earlier this offseason that he is not only the starter of the present, but that the Blue Jays wouldn't trade him.

Toronto traded catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud to the Mets in the R.A. Dickey trade last week, further solidifying Arencibia's role.

"As a player, it just shows the class of people that you're working with," Arencibia said of his talk with Anthopoulos. "They've been nothing but honest with me. Throughout the whole thing, he was able to calm me as far as just tell me, 'Hey, this is what it is. We believe in you and you're our guy.'

"Not only does that make me feel good, but it makes you want to go out and work harder, go the extra mile and go the extra distance for this organization. If they tell me I need to run through a wall, I'm going to try and run through that wall."

The Blue Jays have claimed Russ Canzler off waivers from the Indians.

Canzler, a 26-year-old first baseman-outfielder, hit .269 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in 26 games for Cleveland last season.

After a series of moves with winning now in mind, the Blue Jays have become the best bet to win the 2013 World Series, according to Las Vegas.

Toronto added R.A. Dickey, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Jose Reyes and Melky Cabrera this offseason.

The Blue Jays been posted as 15-2 favorites to win it all next October by the Bovada Sportsbook.

The Blue Jays have claimed Mickey Storey off waivers from the Astros.

Storey, 26, made his major league debut in 2012, appearing in 26 games and posting a 0-1 record with a 3.86 ERA out of the bullpen for Houston.

R.A. Dickey had a strange feeling come over him when Mets general manager Sandy Alderson called him over the weekend to say that the reigning Cy Young winner had 72 hours to negotiate a contract extension with the Blue Jays.

"OK, here we go. I probably am never going to be a Met again," Dickey remembered thinking. "I think I had a wash of just numbness come over me, really."

A day after he was traded to Toronto and finalized a $30 million, three-year contract with the Blue Jays, the knuckleballer talked about his exit from New York after three seasons that revived his career.

"I think it's important for me to grieve leaving New York," he said. "I had a proverbial home there. I had a home among fans. I had a home in an organization. I had a lot of success there, and I think it's important for me to be sad about that for a moment before I move on to the next feeling."

It may seem difficult to trade a reigning Cy Young winner, but the Mets gladly moved R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays when they determined what they could receive in return.

Toronto sent catcher Travis d'Arnaud, right-hander Noah Syndergaard, catcher John Buck and Minor Leaguer Wuilmer Becerra to New York in exchange for Dickey and catchers Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas.

d'Arnaud is the Mets' biggest prize for parting ways with Dickey, but New York also added another potential front-of-the-rotation arm to its farm system in Syndergaard.

R.A. Dickey has reached an agreement with the Blue Jays on a two-year, $25M extension, pending a physical, that will allow Toronto and the New York Mets to complete their trade, sources tell ESPN's Buster Olney.

Negotiations on a contract extension for R.A. Dickey are the only thing holding up a trade between the Mets and Blue Jays, FoxSports.com has reported.

The NL Cy Young winner will appear in a Blue Jays uniform in 2013 assuming the sides can work out a deal. The report says Dickey has until Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET to agree to the extension.