MANAGERIAL MOVES Piniella gets $13 million from Tampa Bay

New York Mets also announced the hiring of Art Howe of Oakland.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lou Piniella envisions a bright future for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
"This organization has a plethora of good young players. What we need to do is have a little patience with them and teach them how to win," Piniella said Monday after being introduced as the third manager in the club's five-year history.
Piniella signed a four-year, $13 million contract that makes him the second-highest paid manager in the majors behind Joe Torre of the New York Yankees, who earns about $5 million per season.
"I look forward to putting in as much work as needed to help get this thing to where we want it to be," Piniella said. "Believe me, this city and this area will enjoy watching our team play. They're going to play hard. They're going to play with intensity. And, they're going to play to win. I look forward to the years ahead and seeing this thing grow and prosper."
Macha to replace Howe
Also Monday, the New York Mets finally announced the hiring of Art Howe away from Oakland. The Athletics will promote bench coach Ken Macha in his place.
Piniella's deal also gives him an opportunity to work near his home in Tampa, where his family and elderly parents live. An added bonus is the Devil Rays hold spring training in St. Petersburg.
Two weeks ago, Piniella asked out of the final year of his contract with the Seattle Mariners to seek employment closer to home. The Mariners agreed to allow Tampa Bay to talk with the manager after the Devil Rays met Seattle's demand for All-Star outfielder Randy Winn as compensation.
Tampa Bay also received minor league shortstop Antonio Perez in the deal.
Piniella went 840-711 in 10 seasons at Seattle. The Mariners won a league-record 116 games in 2001 and won three AL West titles and made four playoff appearances under him.
Overall, Piniella has 1,319 victories -- fourth among active managers -- in 16 seasons. He led Cincinnati to a World Series championship in 1990 and also served a successful stint as manager of the New York Yankees from 1986-88.
Howe agreed with the Mets on a four-year contract worth $9.4 million after being released from the last year of his deal with the Athletics.
The Mets were interested in talking to Piniella, but never got a chance. So they turned to Howe, who was released from the final year of his contract in Oakland and signed a four-year deal worth $9.4 million.
Howe managed the A's to 383 victories the last four seasons, matching Torre's total with the New York Yankees.
Macha was Howe's bench coach for the past four seasons as Oakland made three straight trips to the playoffs. The loquacious former big league catcher and infielder was a top candidate for several managerial vacancies this fall.
Macha spent four years as a manager in the Boston Red Sox organization before joining the A's as a bench coach before the 1999 season. He was the Eastern League manager of the year in 1996 with Double-A Trenton, and he led Triple-A Pawtucket to two winning seasons.