To no surprise, Cito Gaston, 65, will be back as the Blue Jays' manager for the 2010 season.

Although there had been a mini-mutiny against Gaston -- some players at the end of the season expressed their displeasure with his negative comments to the press and "old school" managing style -- Gaston was ratified as the manager for 2010 by general manager Alex Anthopoulos.

However, next season will be Gaston's final one at the helm. Following 2010, he has a four-year deal to be a consultant.

"He had even talked about it a little bit last year, that 2010 might be his last year with us," Anthopoulos said. "He didn't know that he wanted to continue (through the 2011 season)."

Gaston was pleased with the developments.

"It's a good deal for me," he said. "I just wanted to step back and take a look and see if I wanted to continue on managing, and I just thought, 'Well, I think maybe I can probably help the organization as far as being an adviser also, as well as managing, too.' It's something that I wanted to do in my life -- just step back and maybe do something different besides manage."

In the end, it was a compromise move that allowed Gaston to hold his head high and not give the perception that the Jays were caving in to the players.

As far as the problem between Gaston and his players -- one that certain players backpedaled away from after it surfaced -- Anthopoulos believes it was overblown.

To help smooth things out, there were also some changes in the coaching ranks.

"A lot of this (conflict) was slightly overblown, and these things could be addressed and could be rectified in a certain way," Anthopoulos said. "This was certainly part of it."

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