TORONTO — Cito Gaston will return as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays next year.

"Cito's definitely going to be back," general manager J.P. Ricciardi said today. "He's done a good job. We're six games over .500 since he took over. We've got a long way to go offensively, but he's really laid the groundwork for some of the right stuff offensively. The guys like playing for him."

The Blue Jays fired manager John Gibbons on June 20 and gave the job to Gaston for the rest of this season. When they made the move, Ricciardi said he would sit down with Gaston after the season to discuss his status for 2009.

Going into tonight's game against Oakland, the Blue Jays were 23-17 since Gaston took over — the fourth-best record in baseball during that span. Toronto was in fourth place in the AL East at 58-56.

Gaston, 64, joined the Blue Jays as a batting coach in 1981 and became manager for the first time in 1989, replacing Jimy Williams. He led Toronto to consecutive World Series titles in 1992-93 but was fired at the end of the 1997 season.