IN DEVELOPMENTS
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The reigning American League manager of the year isn’t going anywhere.
That is, unless you’re counting spring training, where Joe Maddon is eager to get to work after agreeing to a three -year contract extension that could keep him in Tampa Bay’s dugout through 2015.
The Rays formally announced the deal with the 58-year- old manager during a news conference at Tropicana Field on Wednesday.
Maddon has led the team to the playoffs three of the past four seasons and believes they have an excellent chance of getting back again this year.
Maddon said while he’s f lattered by speculation that he would have been attractive to other teams if the Rays had not locked him up long-term that he had no desire to leave Tampa Bay, which has a talented young roster capable of contending for titles for years to come.
“I know the grass — the turf — is not any greener anywhere else,” Maddon said. “I wanted to be here.”
Maddon is 495-477 in six seasons with the Rays, who struggled through a decade of futility before finally posting the first winning record in franchise history in 2008, when they not only defied the odds by finishing ahead of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox for AL East title but made their first World Series appearance.
Tampa Bay won arguably baseball’s toughest division again in 2010, then overcame a nine -game deficit in September to edge Boston for the AL wild- card spot on the final night of last season.
Maddon has excelled despite fielding a team whose payroll is among the lowest in baseball. A year ago, the Rays lost six key players to free agency and traded two others, yet won 91 games to finish second in the AL East,
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