Lou Piniella has agreed to a $13 million, four-year contract to manage the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Thursday night.

	Goodbye, hello: Lou Piniella will move cross-country from Seattle to his hometown of Tampa Bay.

The source spoke on condition of anonymity. Neither Piniella nor his agent, Alan Nero, returned telephone messages. The agreement was first reported by Newsday.

The team is under orders from commissioner Bud Selig to be silent about any deals until the World Series ends.

The agreement would give Piniella an increase over the $2.5 million he was scheduled to earn next season during his final year with the Seattle Mariners.

The Tampa Tribune said Piniella will meet Sunday with Devil Rays managing general partner Vince Naimoli and general manager Chuck LaMar to finalize details on the contract. It would make Piniella the second-highest paid manager in the majors behind the Yankees' Joe Torre, who makes $5 million.

"I've had three nice meetings with the Tampa Bay people, and they've been good, productive meetings,'' Piniella told The Tribune. "I've gotten a chance to look at their organization, and at the same time talk to Chuck and Vince about how they perceive things. I've come away satisfied that this organization wants to win and get things on track.''

The Devil Rays finished tied with Detroit for the worst record in the majors last season at 55-106. The Mariners were a struggling franchise when Piniella took over in 1993, but he led them to their only four playoff appearances and a record 116 wins in 2001.

The 59-year-old Piniella has expressed a desire to work closer to his home in Tampa.

"The reason for leaving Seattle was the family consideration, and certainly this job will take care of that,'' Piniella told the newspaper. "And honestly also, too, the challenge of doing basically what we did in Seattle 10 years ago. If my situation works out with Tampa Bay, we hope to do a likewise job. And I think things went pretty well in Seattle.''

The New York Mets, the only other team pursuing Piniella, reached an agreement Wednesday with Art Howe on a four-year, $9.4 million deal. Since Piniella doesn't want to return to Seattle, managing the cost-conscious Devil Rays was his only real employment option for 2003.

"It's either that or I stay at home,'' Piniella told The St. Petersburg Times. "I never got the opportunity to talk to New York. I don't know what happened as far as the compensation issue is concerned.''

The Mets went after Howe after talks broke down with the Mariners regarding which players New York would send to Seattle as compensation for letting Piniella out of his contract. The Devil Rays successfully negotiated terms with the Mariners.

Speculation about what Seattle would get from Tampa Bay centers on All-Star Randy Winn. The outfielder's inclusion would not be a surprise, because Winn is eligible for arbitration, and his salary could rise from $960,000 to more than $3 million next season.