Baseball Notes: Piniella takes job with the Giants

Lou Piniella is staying right in the baseball mix.

The longtime skipper said Wednesday that he has agreed to a one-year contract with the San Francisco Giants to work as a special assistant for the World Series champions. Sweet Lou will report to general manager Brian Sabean.

"I took a little consulting job with the Giants," Piniella said in a telephone interview from his home in Florida. "It's a done deal. I look forward to it. Brian and I are good friends. Whatever Brian needs me to do."

The 67-year-old Piniella retired as a manager during the 2010 season with the Chicago Cubs in order to return home to Tampa, Fla., and help his ailing mother, 91-year-old Margaret. He was with her Wednesday in the hospital after she underwent a procedure and reported she was hanging in there.

Piniella is 14th with 1,835 regular-season wins while managing the New York Yankees, Cincinnati, Seattle, Tampa Bay, and the Cubs. As the Giants have done with former manager Felipe Alou, Piniella will remain in Florida and do most of his work from his home base - and probably no longer throwing bases. He said he would scout American League teams in Florida during spring training and attend Rays games at Tropicana Field.

The new gig provides Piniella, known for his animated arguments with umpires over the years, the best of both worlds.

"It gives me a chance to stay involved in baseball and not have to travel," Piniella said. "I worked with Brian a lot of years in New York. He's a good man. They have several former Yankees [working for the club]. They won a world championship - we won a world championship. I'm joining a world-class organization."

Clemens case. Roger Clemens told a federal judge that he waives any conflict of interest that may arise from his lead criminal defense attorney's briefly representing his former-teammate-turned-accuser, Andy Pettitte.

In December 2007, Houston lawyer Rusty Hardin briefly advised both players just before the release of a report alleging they used performance-enhancing drugs.

Clemens, the former pitching great, denies the allegation. Pettitte admitted he used human growth hormone and claimed Clemens admitted privately he did, too. Pettitte is expected to testify against Clemens during a trial scheduled for this summer on charges that Clemens lied about the drug use during a congressional hearing.

Yankees get outfielder. The Yankees have acquired outfielder Justin Maxwell from the Washington Nationals for minor-league righthander Adam Olbrychowski.

The 27-year-old Maxwell has a .201 average in three big-league seasons with nine homers and 26 RBIs. He batted .144 with three homers and 12 RBIs in 104 at-bats for Washington last year, and hit .287 with six homers and 21 RBIs for triple-A Syracuse.

The 25-year-old Olbrychowski was 3-2 with a 3.90 ERA in one start and 31 relief appearances last year for single-A Tampa and double-A Trenton.

Dodgers, reliever reach deal. The Los Angeles Dodgers and pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo have agreed to a one-year contract worth $2,725,000 as the sides avoided arbitration.

The lefthanded reliever was 3-2 with a franchise-record and major- league-best 1.20 ERA in 56 games last season, when Kuo earned $975,000. He made the all-star team and inherited the closer's spot when Jonathan Broxton struggled.