"I'm staying here," Piniella said before his team played Kansas City. "All these things that have been talked about, they're all somebody's speculation. Nothing's ever come out from me. I'm signed here two more years. With me, it's always been nothing but speculation. That's all it is."

Piniella's name has been mentioned as a potential successor to New York Mets manager Art Howe, who will not return next year.

Tampa Bay, with a payroll around $23 million, is attempting to finish higher than the AL East cellar for the first time this season.

The Devil Rays offered all of Piniella's coaches, and senior adviser Don Zimmer, two-year contract extensions Tuesday through 2006, which is also when Piniella's four-year deal ends.

"It's the right decision because they do a very professional job and they care," Piniella said. "They have loyalty to this organization. I'm very appreciative that our organization is going to extend these guys."

Cincinnati native Don Zimmer, a Devils Rays senior adviser, said Monday he hadn't decided yet if he will return next year for his 57th season in baseball.

He said his other options are to retire or return to coaching if a team is interested.

CUBS: Chicago shortstop Nomar Garciaparra expects to return to the lineup today after being out since Sept. 11 with a strained groin.

Manager Dusty Baker said Garciaparra probably will start against the Pirates on Wednesday night, but will not start Thursday's afternoon game against the Pirates. After leaving Pittsburgh, the Cubs play in New York this weekend, and Garciaparra is expected to start Friday night.

Garciaparra believes the injury is related to the Achilles' tendon injury that bothered him throughout the first half of the season with the Boston Red Sox. He was batting .298 in 31 games with the Cubs before his latest injury.

Garciaparra worked out before Tuesday night's Cubs-Pirates games, fielding ground balls and taking batting practice. He was available either as a late-inning pinch-hitter or a defensive replacement.

ANGELS: Anaheim second baseman Adam Kennedy is done for the season because of torn ligaments in his right knee, hindering the team's playoff hopes. An MRI on Tuesday revealed a torn MCL and ACL. If Kennedy requires surgery, his rehabilitation could extend into spring training.

"If my knee just keeps slipping out, or is unstable on an everyday occurrence, then, yeah, I'll have to get it done," Kennedy said. "But if I have some instability only once in a while, I'll try to stay away from it."

Kennedy, one of the few Angels regulars who had not been sidelined by a serious injury this year, hurt himself in the fifth inning of Monday night's 5-2 victory over Seattle while trying to make a difficult play on a ground single up the middle by speedy Ichiro Suzuki.

The six-year veteran ranged over to the left of second base and tried to plant his right foot, but his leg buckled underneath him. Kennedy made it off the field under his own power after several minutes on the ground.

"I just tried to get to the ball and make the best play I could. I would try to make that play again," Kennedy said. "I had too much weight going the other way, and I knew something wasn't right. But being able to walk off the field like I did, I was a little more optimistic at that point.

"Trying to make a play like that, your body's not meant to be able to do something like that - plant, stop and go the opposite way. It was just a freak thing."

The injury puts the Angels in a bind. They began the day 2 1/2 games behind first-place Oakland in the AL West and 4 1/2 games behind Boston in the wild-card race. If they are going to qualify for the postseason, they will have to do it with Chone Figgins filling in at second base.

"It's a big loss," manager Mike Scioscia said. "Adam's an integral part of what we've done to get in this race. Hopefully, there's a chance that surgery can be avoided, but it's still going to be a long rehab."

Figgins started at second Tuesday night for seventh time this season and the first time since Aug. 14 at Detroit. But he has proven to be one of the team's most valuable and versatile players this year, hitting .292 while starting at six different positions.

"A.K. has been so solid over there and has done such a fantastic job, what he brings to the team on a day-to-day basis," shortstop David Eckstein said. "Figgy's a great player, and hopefully he'll step in and do the same thing. I worked with him enough, especially in spring training, so we should be able to work well together."

Kennedy was the MVP of the 2002 AL championship series with three home runs in the clinching game against the Minnesota Twins. He batted .278 in 144 games this season with 48 RBIs and 10 home runs, including his first career game-winning homer on Aug. 29 against the Twins. He also had a 54-game errorless streak.

ASTROS: Second baseman Jeff Kent, 36, is pondering retirement, saying Tuesday, "I don't even know if I'm going to play next year." Moments later, he backed off the statement and asked reporters not to make a big deal about it.

The 36-year-old Houston second baseman has four children, a ranch, aspirations of owning a motorcycle shop, and a trailer full of his own motorcycles.

The Astros have a $9 million club option on Kent's contract for the 2005 season with a $700,000 buyout and there is speculation they won't pick it up in order to save money.

Kent said his decision to retire won't hinge on whether the Astros pick up his option. But whenever he calls it quits, he already knows all the things he will do after baseball.

"I don't want to live in a locker room," he said before Houston opened a three-game series against his former team, San Francisco. "I don't know if there's anybody in the game who enjoys doing things outside the game as much as I do."

But Kent also expressed how much fun he's having - "I'm enjoying the game more than I used to," he said.

So, who knows?

If he could win a World Series ring, it would make a decision about his future that much easier. Kent fell six outs short of a title with the Giants in 2002, when they lost in seven games to the Anaheim Angels. He said that season that if San Francisco won it all, he would retire.

He has spoken to 42-year-old teammate Roger Clemens about the pitcher's decision to postpone his planned retirement to join the Astros, his hometown team, after five seasons with the Yankees.

"But I'm not as old as those guys," Kent said, referring to Clemens and 40-year-old slugger Barry Bonds of the Giants. "I've had my time and appreciate it. ... As an individual, you can't control winning as much as you'd like to."

RED SOX: Boston recalled right-hander Byung-Hyun Kim from Triple-A Pawtucket. Kim was 1-1 with a 6.17 ERA in three starts for Boston this year and had a 5.34 ERA in 22 games for Pawtucket.

Also Tuesday, the Red Sox agreed to player development contracts with the Wilmington (Del.) Blue Rocks of the Single-A Carolina League and the Capital City Bombers of Columbia, S.C., in the South Atlantic League.

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