TAMPA, Fla. - The Tampa Bay Devil Rays will make a contract proposal to Lou Piniella today for their vacant managerial job, the team said.

        Piniella, who also is a candidate for the New York Mets' managerial job, led the Seattle Mariners to an American League-record 116 victories in 2001. Seattle was 93-69 this season, the second-most wins in team history, but finished 10 games behind the Oakland A's in the American League West.

        The Devil Rays fired manager Hal McRae after they finished this season at 55-106, tied for the worst record in baseball with the Detroit Tigers.

        Piniella was the Mariners' manager for the past 10 seasons, leading the team to seven of the eight winning seasons in team history. He also managed the New York Yankees and Cincinnati, winning the World Series with the Reds in 1990. He is 1,319-1,135 in 16 seasons as a major-league manager.

        The 59-year-old Piniella asked the Mariners to release him from the final season of a three-year, $6.8 million contract, citing personal reasons. Seattle and Tampa Bay agreed on a compensation package should Piniella accept the Devil Rays job, though both teams declined to comment on the proposed compensation.

        PUCKETT DECLARES INNOCENCE: Baseball Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett declared he is innocent of charges he dragged a woman into a Minneapolis restaurant bathroom and groped her.

        “Let the process play its course. I know I'm innocent of these charges,” Puckett said as he left the county jail.

        Prosecutors charged the 41-year-old former Twins star with a felony count of false imprisonment and a gross misdemeanor count of criminal sexual conduct. If convicted, Puckett probably would be put on probation and given less than a year in a county workhouse.

World Series classic in the making Bell goes from uncertainty to Series Will small ball replace long ball in Game 3? Percival says Series baseballs 'harder' Game 1 TV rating sets record low Devil Rays want Piniella

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