Piniella Gets $2.5 Million to Manage Mariners

Lou Piniella, who managed the Cincinnati Reds to a World Series title in 1990, on Monday became manager of the Seattle Mariners, a club that had the worst record in the American League last season.

Piniella, 49, signed a three-year contract worth $2.5 million. The Mariners have the option of picking up Piniella’s contract for the 1996 season.

Piniella resigned as Cincinnati manager last month after managing the Reds to 90 victories despite a number of injuries to key players. Cincinnati finished eight games behind Atlanta in the NL West, and Piniella left after the season when he could not reach a contract agreement with Reds’ owner Marge Schott.

In Seattle, Piniella will take over a franchise that has had only one winning season in 16 years. He rejoins Mariner General Manager Woody Woodward, who was Piniella’s boss with the New York Yankees in the 1980s.

“It’s a tremendous challenge for me,” Piniella said. “I hope this is my last managing job.

“I don’t know why this organization has lost 15 out of 16 years. But like Bill Clinton said, we can do better than that and we’re going to do better than that.”

After the Mariners’ 64-98 record last season, the team fired first-year manager Bill Plummer and his six-man coaching staff. Plummer was let go with one year left on his two-year, $500,000 contract.

The Mariners introduced Piniella at a news conference and announced the signing of two coaches--Ken Griffey Sr. as hitting coach and Sam Perlozzo as third-base coach.

Griffey is the father of Mariners center fielder Ken Griffey Jr., who was MVP in the major league All-Star game last summer. Perlozzo was Piniella’s third-base coach in Cincinnati.

The Mariners said they expect to hire four more coaches before baseball’s winter meetings in Louisville, Ky., in December.

Piniella also takes the helm under new ownership. The Baseball Club of Seattle, a Japanese-led group of investors formed to keep the Mariners here, took over the team from Jeff Smulyan last July.

Piniella comes to the Mariners with a six-year big league managerial record of 479-424. He managed the Yankees for three seasons and the Reds for three.