Cito officially extended

Sportsnet is reporting that Gaston's officially been extended for 2 years. It was bound to happen eventually, but it's nice to know it's official.

The article states the Jays went 48-36 for a winning % of 571 since Cito's taken over. That's a 92 win pace, and would have put the Jays a few games back of the WC this year.

I guess this means JP is coming back next year, as it wouldn't have made much sense to sign the manager and fire the GM. The GM would want to pick his own manager, so it stands to reason JP will be back for 09.

I'm not going to always agree with Cito's decisions (I don't understand why he keeps his starters in so long), but overall he's done a pretty good with the team. He's made a tremendous impact on the starting lineup, which has been scoring nearly a run per game more than under the Gibbons regime. Not to mention the fact he's done a stellar job bridging the gap from AAA to the majors for prospects such as Adam Lind and Travis Snider. It makes me feel a lot more comfortable knowing Cito can handle the rooks, because the Jays should continue to bring up the next wave of top prospects (Cecil, Cooper, Arencibia, etc) over the next couple of years.

Welcome back for good, Cito. We can't wait to see what you'll do now that you're starting from Day 1.

Update: I'll include some of the players quotes, which weren't available when I first read the article:

"We've obviously played much better since he and his staff have been here," said centre fielder Vernon Wells. "It's good to know who we are going to have leading us into next year."

"There are some good things going on," said first baseman Lyle Overbay. "I'm excited, I want to see what he can do for a whole year.

Makes 2 of us, Lyle.

Twitchy.