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Tuesday, October 31
Lou Piniella returns to Mariners
ESPN.com

ESPN's baseball analysts react to Lou Piniella's new three-year contract with the Mariners:

Peter Gammons
This helps the re-signing of Alex Rodriguez only for the reason that it makes the Mariners a stable situation that is familiar to him. A-Rod is going to go wherever the money is, wherever the greatest spotlight is, wherever he has the greatest chance of winning or simply where he wants to go. That might not be Seattle but the Mariners won't be outbid for Rodriguez, just as they weren't outbid for Piniella.

Cincinnati GM Jim Bowden was very disappointed he couldn't sign Piniella. Most likely, the Reds' ownership would not come up with the money it would have taken. Bowden has interviewed 11 people and is "leaning toward a major surprise." But he hasn't tipped his hand on what that surprise may be.

Buck Martinez
It's great for Seattle that Lou Piniella has agreed to come back. He did some marvelous things with that team this year and this is certainly an asset in the attempt to sign Alex Rodriguez. Piniella was able to overcome the loss of one of the best players in the game by turning the team over to another one of the best players. Rodriguez will certainly take this into account when sifting through his free-agent offers.

Where the Cincinnati Reds go from here is anyone's guess. Piniella would seem to have been a good fit there. He had been there before and he has a relationship with both Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Larkin. This may have caught the Reds off-balance. They will need to regroup and find a candidate who would have fit the organization as well as Lou would have.		 

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Piniella stays put, agrees to three-year deal with M's