Maddon, Rays should improve with age together

ST. PETERSBURG - More wine!

Joe Maddon, connoisseur, storyteller, manager of the year, is getting three more seasons as Rays skipper, despite atrocities like resting Carlos Pena on a Sunday night in Boston.

Now let me turn off the radio a second and get back to my column.

This is good news.

Vintage Maddon '08 will presumably be joined by Maddon '10, '11 and '12.

Say it's so, Joe.

The three-year deal is expected to be announced sometime this week. Maddon couldn't comment offically, and Andrew Friedman, Rays executive vice president of baseball operations, commented even less, judging by his statement, released like a dove of peace: "It has always been our policy not to comment on rumors or unconfirmed reports."

More wine!

There was no suspense here. It was a no-brainer. Maddon deserved a new deal the second the Rays lifted off the launch pad and into real baseball last season. Maddon and the Miracles made history. For history, this man deserved this security, this three-year deal.

This was not a vote of confidence. A vote of confidence is when an owner or a GM says your job is safe, pats you on the back, then heads off to find an oil drum to seal you in once you're finished. A vote of confidence doesn't come with a contract. This did.

Maddon wasn't staring at the ceiling at night worrying over this. He also wanted to stay right here. His employer agrees. That it didn't get done in the offseason is just the Ray way.

But the timing is interesting, and probably slightly calculated by the Rays, who never do anything just to do it. Face it: It can't hurt a team that struggled out of the box, 20-21, and it was an important move to make at this time and in this place. It stops any chatter that might start if the Rays keep trailing the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Yankees.

Rays expression on Rays first baseman Carlos Pena's face said so.

"This is great news," Pena said. "It needed to happen."

Well, or maybe one good turn by all five starters, or a B.J. Upton hot streak, but why quibble? The Rays needed Maddon, safe, secure, focused, no distractions. And they're not in the Series without him last season.

"Definitely not," Pena said. "It starts with him, his attitude, his mentality, and then it basically trickles down to everyone. He started this culture. He built it."

I haven't liked everything Jumpin' Joe has done, especially a couple of his moves last postseason. There were some head-scrachers in there. But I also remember walking into the visitors' clubhouse at Fenway Park after the Rays, a precious few outs from winning the pennant, had blown a 7-run lead to lose ALCS Game 5 to the Red Sox.

Maddon was walking by with a plate of barbecue.

"We'll be fine," he said.

He was more than the father of 9=8. His was just the steadying hand then and it can be one now. A three-year deal can't hurt.

I don't think Maddon doubted this deal would get done, not for a second. He's been in baseball forever, and he has operated mostly on one-year deals, so waiting around was nothing new.

I'm not saying the front office planned it this way, but apparently talks with the manager began in earnest while the Rays were several games under .500. Maybe that figured into the thinking: a jump start of sorts, if a manager getting a new deal can ever do that. I'm not sure this will, but it can't hurt.

And Maddon deserved it.

It's easy to break down this season. It's easy to pick apart Maddon's lineups and personality and game moves. I keep remembering that there was no such thing as winning baseball until it happened under Maddon. Not even a whiff.

This team has definite problems, but most seem correctable. The pitching staff is shaky. There are going to be moves that need to be made. David Price will soon be banging on the door. Every time I see Jason Bay in the Boston outfield, I wince at what might have been for the Rays. There's something missing this season, an edge, if you will.

I'm not saying Maddon getting a new deal solves all that.

But he deserved this deal.

He deserves this season and next, maybe even the next two after that. That's what it will say on his contract. It's not official or anything. But it's good stuff, no matter what anyone says.

"It's very good news," Pena said.

Agreed.

Maddon has done so many things right. He isn't perfect, though last season is about as close as you can get. This season is another matter. And it's matter for the Rays and their manager, who, by the way, just went online and bought a case of Argentine, well, you know.

More wine!

More Joe!

It's all good.