Devil Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg on Friday stopped just short of saying Joe Maddon would be back as the team's manager next year. And it really was just short. While Sternberg continued to assert that there was "no need" to make a definitive statement on Maddon's status before the deadline to do so, which is believed to fall within the next two weeks, it didn't take much reading between the lines to determine where the owner stands. As evidence, take his answer when asked if Maddon had any reason to sweat the decision: "I don't think so, no," Sternberg said. "Given where we are on the scale, it's not a day-to-day thing with us. We feel pretty good about the way things are headed, and most importantly the way the players have responded. You can see the enthusiasm they've still got, even given their place in the standings, and that speaks volumes to Joe and the staff and the players themselves."