Team officials are expected to make official today what they have been hinting for weeks, that they will pick up a two-year option that keeps Maddon under contract through 2009. Maddon, 53, has a two-year record of 119-183 (.394, going into play Friday), but Rays officials have said they are pleased with direction of the team and the progress players have made. "Depending on where we are in the time line, wins and losses are still the ultimate barometer, but it wasn't the ultimate barometer when Joe started this, and while it's still paramount in what we're trying to do, it's about the preparation for the success that we expect to have happen in the near future," principal owner Stuart Sternberg said earlier this month.