Joe Maddon will remain the manager of the Devil Rays.

The Rays announced on Saturday that they had picked up the two-year
option on Maddon's contract, extending it through the 2009 season.

"I know it's a two-year extension, but I want to be here for years to
come," Maddon said. "I really see this as being one of the prime
places to be in Major League Baseball over the next decade. And I
want to be part of it. ... To me as a baseball person, there's no
better place to be than with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and it's just
going to keep on getting better. "

The Rays had until Sept. 30 to make the change.

"The nuances of the contract, we had an option date that was early in
the month, and we had agreed to announce it at the end of the month,"
said Andrew Friedman, Rays executive vice president of baseball
operations. "But collectively, we decided to accelerate that, just
with conversations with players. With the season winding down I think
it was important for all of them to understand and to know that Joe
is going to be their manager.

"For us it really wasn't a difficult decision. The last two years
have been very important in terms of building a foundation. And we
feel like Joe's been an integral part of that. And now that we
believe that foundation is in place, we believe that it is all of our
jobs to continue to build a team that cannot only compete, but can
win the American League East. And we feel like Joe's the right person
for the job."

Maddon's initial two-year deal paid him approximately $1.1 million.
The Rays did not disclose the amount of the extension.

Prior to joining the Rays on Nov. 15, 2005, Maddon spent 31 years in
the Angels' organization, including the last 12 on the Major League
staff. Maddon had an extensive background in player development and
he served as the Angels bench coach for nearly 10 seasons, including
the last six under manager Mike Scioscia while the team reached the
playoffs in three of his last four seasons, winning the 2002 World
Series.

Maddon, 53, has a 119-184 (.393) record as Rays manager, but much of
his work has been more concerned with getting the team in position to
win by developing the right players, than actual wins and losses to
this point.

Nobody questioned whether Maddon would be an excellent leader while
the Rays tried to develop their young players, but now that the team
seems closer to turning the corner to where winning is the main focus
the question was out there whether Maddon was the right guy to be
pulling the strings.

"Now after seeing him for two years and appreciating what he's about,
we're extremely confident that he's the right person to get us to
that point," Friedman said. "... Obviously the won-loss record the
last couple of years has been disappointing for everybody involved.
But we said from the beginning, we look forward to the point when
that could be the focus. But we were not there yet as an organization
to where that could be the chief focus like we all want it to be. We
feel like while the win-loss record won't be far different than it
has been in years past, the team is dramatically different. If you
look under the hood of this team and compare it to other teams in the
past, there's infinitely more potential and it's more upon us than
it's ever been."

Carl Crawford, the team's signature player, was asked about Maddon's
extension.

"I'm happy for Joe having his option picked up," Crawford said. "We
get to stay on course -- what we've been doing. Last year we kind of
sorted out some things. And this year we took another step to get
better. So hopefully it will keep getting better every year."

Crawford, though frustrated at times with the direction of the
organization, looks forward to the future and the prospect of having
more emphasis on winning games than developing players.

"I think that's what they want to do, try to win more games next
year," Crawford said. "From what I understand, developing players to
get to where we can try to win more games starting next year.
Hopefully, we'll be better than we were this year."

Maddon feels he has grown while at the helm.

"The one thing for me personally is the consistency part of it,"
Maddon said. "Everybody uses the word discipline and I don't think
most people know what they mean when they use the word discipline. To
me discipline means being consistent. ... I think I've remained
pretty consistent and I think that's important for this group. ...
For me, if I can remain consistent and we keep the work ethic as it
is and we continue to give these people experience with their
athletic abilities and they become more efficient as Major League
Baseball players, good things are going to happen."