Back to the Rays Report

Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

 @RMooneyTrib
 TBO_Rays
Send us your questions

More Links:

• Schedule/Results
• Player Stats
• Team Stats

Most Recent Entries

• UD unveils Military Machines inserts for 2012 Goodwin Champions set
• Rays @ BoSox: Guyer out for the season, Jennings close to returning and lineups
• USF softball: It’s game day
• Weekly Tampa Bay fishing report
• Rays at BoSox: Rivalry renewed
• Karen Cooley returns as Zephyrhills girls swimming coach
• USF beats Pitt, stays alive
• The Nerds head north
• Jeffrey Shank out as Gulf boys basketball coach
• Berkeley Prep captures Academic Team Champion Award - again
• This week’s signings and offers
• Berkeley Prep wins FHSAA Academic Award standings
• Shank out as Gulf boys hoops coach
• Be prepared for year’s busiest boating weekend
• Train and O.A.R. added to summer concert series

More

• Bucs Report -Tribune staff
• Rays Report - Roger Mooney
• Bolts Report - Erik Erlendsson
• Bulls Report
• Prep Report - Hillsborough
• Prep Report - Pasco
• Prep Report - Region
• Prep Report - Recruiting Updates
• Prep Report - Football
• Go Fishing: On The Waterfront
• The Sports Bookie - Bob D'Angelo
• Gators Report - Tribune staff
• Youth Sports Report
• NFL Draft Report
• Go Ask: Frank's Tacklebox
• Bucified Bert Blog
• BUK Power - Bucs Fan Blog
• Pigskin Preacher - NFL Fan Blog
• Breakfast Bonus - Tom McEwen
• Highlands Sports

Monthly Archives

• May 2012
• April 2012
• March 2012
• February 2012
• January 2012
• December 2011

Maddon: ‘I believe I have the best job in Major League Baseball’

Posted Feb 15, 2012 by Roger Mooney

Updated Feb 15, 2012 at 08:07 PM

Joe Maddon (left) and Andrew Friedman shake hands Wednesday morning after Friedman announced Maddon’s contract extension.
STAFF PHOTO/CHRIS URSO

ROGER MOONEY
ST. PETERSBURG Joe Maddon took to the dais late this morning and proclaimed his desire to manage the Tampa Bay Rays for a long time.

“As long as they want to have me, we’re good,” he said.

Maddon, whose current contract expires after the 2012 season, signed a three-year contract extension that runs through 2015. The terms were not disclosed.

“It truly is the only place to work in Major League Baseball as far as I’m concerned,” Maddon said.

Here are some other things he talked about this morning:

On why he wasn’t interested in seeking any of the other managerial positions that came open this offseason:
“I believe I have the best job in Major League Baseball.”

Why?
“We’re all motivated by different things. My motivation isn’t the dollar sign, never has been, never will be. My motivation is to do something that I love, where I love to do it, with people that I enjoy doing it with. That matters. It matters that you can show up every day and really like walking in the door. I mean love walking in the door. You don’t have to look somewhere else. It’s right here. I mean, everybody wants to look somewhere else. It’s right here.”

On why he likes working with executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman:
“You can’t underestimate the freedom that I have here. All the crazy stuff I do is supported … I think.”

On why it was important to get the extension done before the start of spring training:
“I did not want it to be any kind of a distraction. That would bother me.”

On turning around the culture of a losing clubhouse:
“We talked about the accountability factor when we first moved in. It wasn’t there. The wins definitely weren’t there, and over the course of the last several years, we’ve got a bunch of self-starters who care, and self-starters who not only want to participate, but win. We’ve come up short the last two years in the playoffs, but we did get there. We’ve got to extend that a little bit further as we move further into our marriage here, which is exactly what it is. But our players do believe that. Nobody just shows up any more. and the fact we have a chance to be together for a while yet is really significant in regards to our success. So for me, there are so many different reasons to be thankful, and I am. I’m grateful for this opportunity. I’m grateful that the Rays gave me this shot several years ago.”

Friedman on Maddon:
“When we hired him, one of the biggest things for us was we were always going to have a younger roster, especially relative to the teams that we’re competing against directly. So with Joe’s player development experience, his experience at the Major League level, with the type of person he is, we felt like it would be a really good fit for an evolving roster. But again, it was with the idea of him being our long-term manager—not just in a turnaround situation.”

Owner Stuart Sternberg on Maddon:
“Joe has been a central component to our organization’s development and success. As we all enter our seventh season together, I am proud for what we have accomplished and excited about what lies ahead.”