Author | Matthew Pouliot

While Dirk Hayhurst and Jack Morris have chimed in, none of this “Clay Buchholz is cheating” talk is coming from Blue Jays players or management. And it probably won’t. The Blue Jays don’t want to go accusing someone of cheating and then have their own dirty laundry aired. The Red Sox, for instance, still seem…

May 3, 2013, 1:44 pm EDT via hardballtalk.nbcsports.com

The 2013 season in Toronto opened with so much promise, but the first half of April has brought only disappointment to Blue Jays fans. Not only have big acquisitions R.A. Dickey, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle all gotten off to terrible starts, but now Jose Reyes is expected to miss 1-3 months with an ankle…

April 13, 2013, 12:55 am EDT via hardballtalk.nbcsports.com

Third baseman Will Middlebrooks hit three homers and doubled Sunday in Boston’s 13-0 rout in Toronto. The 24-year-old Middlebrooks became the first player to hit three homers in a game this year, and he’s the youngest player to accomplish the feat since the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen on Aug. 1, 2009.  He was the first member of the…

April 7, 2013, 4:04 pm EDT via hardballtalk.nbcsports.com

J.A. Happ probably would have opened the season as the most well-compensated pitcher in Triple-A if Ricky Romero hadn’t struggled so mightily this spring. Inserted into the Blue Jays’ rotation instead, Happ struck out six in 5 1/3 innings and combined with three relievers on a two-hit shutout of the Red Sox on Saturday. The…

April 6, 2013, 3:56 pm EDT via hardballtalk.nbcsports.com

Trying to pull off another stunner, Italy jumped out early against the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, only to see its 4-0 lead whittled away in a 5-4 loss. After Dominican starter Edinson Volquez at one point threw 11 straight balls in the first, Alex Liddi hit a sac fly and Chris Colabello followed with a three-run…

March 12, 2013, 5:11 pm EDT via hardballtalk.nbcsports.com

R.A. Dickey passed his physical, clearing the final hurdle for his trade to Toronto. Here’s the official transaction: Blue Jays acquire RHP R.A. Dickey, C Josh Thole and C Mike Nickeas from the Mets for C Travis d’Arnaud, C John Buck, RHP Noah Syndergaard and OF Wuilmer Becerra. The final two names — those of Nickeas and…

December 17, 2012, 6:31 pm EST via hardballtalk.nbcsports.com

UPDATE: Turns out the Blue Jays didn’t sign Cesar Izturis after all. Mike Cormack of Sportsnet.ca reports that the Blue Jays actually signed Julio Izturis, who is Cesar’s 23-year-old brother. He played with the Giants’ low Class A affiliate this past season. Wednesday, 7:13 PM: After stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Baltimore, Milwaukee…

November 22, 2012, 9:00 pm EST via hardballtalk.nbcsports.com

After stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Baltimore  Milwaukee and Washington, Cesar Izturis is returning to the organization that originally signed him as a 16-year-old in 1996. He inked a minor league deal with the Blue Jays on Wednesday. Izturis will battle to make the team as a utility infielder. He hit .241/.254/.343 in…

November 21, 2012, 7:13 pm EST via hardballtalk.nbcsports.com

While all indications were that the Blue Jays planned to bring in a retread as John Farrell’s replacement on the bench, who knew it’d again be one of their own? John Gibbons, who managed the team from 2004-08, will reclaim the job, the Toronto Sun reports. Gibbons had a 305-305 record in three full and…

November 20, 2012, 1:02 am EST via hardballtalk.nbcsports.com

There’s simply no way the Red Sox could have looked at John Farrell’s work in Toronto and came away with the idea that he was a great manager. The Blue Jays were a horrible baserunning team, they had Omar Vizquel questioning their clubhouse leadership and their win total decreased in both of his years at…

October 21, 2012, 2:52 am EDT via hardballtalk.nbcsports.com