ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Lou Piniella showed you can go home again.
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Monday named Piniella their new manager and signed him to a four-year, $13 million contract.
The deal makes Piniella the major leagues' second-highest paid manager behind the New York Yankees' Joe Torre, who receives $5 million a season.
"Lou has established himself as one of the finest managers in major league baseball," General Manager Chuck LaMar said. "He has won everywhere he has managed and we believe he will bring the same winning attitude and competitiveness to our organization."
As compensation for signing Piniella, the Devil Rays sent All-Star outfielder Randy Winn to the Seattle Mariners for minor league shortstop Antonio Perez.
"When we started this process we had two goals: getting Lou closer to home and receiving reasonable compensation for the Mariners to allow him out of the final year of his contract," Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln said. "We are pleased we were able to accomplish both of those goals."
Winn, 28, was the Devil Rays' best player in 2002, hitting .298 with 14 homers and 75 RBI in 152 games.
"I think he's a very good fit for Safeco Field," Mariners General Manager Pat Gillick said.
Perez, 21, recently was named the 52nd best prospect in the minor leagues by Baseball America.
The Devil Rays reportedly were ready to announce Piniella as their manager last week but were rebuffed by Commissioner Bud Selig, who informed teams they could not make any major personnel moves until after the World Series.
Piniella had announced he was leaving Seattle to move closer to home. Since he had a year remaining on his contract, the Mariners were entitled to compensation if Piniella managed elsewhere in 2003.
The New York Mets also were interested in Piniella but were unable to reach a compensation agreement with the Mariners and on Monday hired Oakland Athletics Manager Art Howe.
The 59-year-old Piniella, who has three grown children, graduated from high school in Tampa and attended the University of Tampa.
"It's a homecoming of sorts," Piniella said. "I talked to Seattle about coming here. I'm close to home and didn't really want to be anywhere else."
In Tampa Bay, Piniella has his work cut out for him. The Devil Rays shared the majors' worst record this past season at 55-106 and fired Manager Hal McRae.
Piniella guided the Mariners to an American League-record 116 wins in 2001 and was rewarded with AL Manager of the Year honors. But Seattle missed the playoffs by six games this season and Piniella reportedly was upset the team did not make more midseason moves.
Unquestionably the most successful manager in team history, Piniella guided the Mariners to three straight playoff appearances and four in the last eight years.
Under Piniella, Seattle went 840-711 and reached the ALCS in 1995, 2000 and 2001. He has a career managerial mark of 1,319-1,135 and guided the Cincinnati Reds to a World Series title in 1990.
Only Atlanta's Bobby Cox, St. Louis' Tony La Russa and Torre have more wins than Piniella among active managers.
