Jose Valverde is a nice guy, a good family man, hit 99 mph against the Diamondbacks while saving Tuesday’s game and means well.
He probably will have another good season as Houston’s closer, although 47 saves might be a reach.
But Valverde still misunderstands the D-Backs’ motives in his trade to Houston, telling the Tribune and other outlets Monday that reports indicating financial reasons were involved were a “lie.”
He could not be more wrong. The trade was all about business, and the relative valuation of the positions on the field
When the D-Backs acquired Dan Haren from Oakland, they assumed the remaining $16.25 million of his contract, including an option, through 2010. Since they traded minor leaguers, there were no salary offsets.
Meanwhile, the price on arbitration-eligible Valverde was about to escalate dramatically. Valverde made $2 million in 2007 and stood to get a substantial raise this season – it ended up being $5.3 million through arbitration.
With the Haren money coming in, the D-Backs did not want to commit that much salary to a closer, at the same time believing their returning arms — Brandon Lyon and Tony Pena – and newcomer Chad Qualls, whom they targeted in the Valverde deal, could more than adequately handle the bullpen.
It has worked out for all concerned.

It will be interesting to see how the Diamondbacks handle top pitching prospect Max Scherzer in the coming weeks.
Because of the impressive numbers Scherzer has put up in his 11 months in the organization, the D-Backs are committed to giving him every chance to succeed as a starter.
General manager Josh Byrnes was impressed with Scherzer’s commitment to his development in his four starts in Tucson this season, where he worked to mix in his secondary pitches to complement his mid-90s fastball.
But there are no openings in the rotation now, and Doug Davis will immediately return to his starting role when he regains his health next month.
The D-backs could return Scherzer to Tucson, where he dominated, or pull a Joba Chamberlain with Scherzer, letting him prepare for his starting role in short bullpen increments this year.
Chamberlain is being groomed as a starter by being used as a Yankees’ setup man.

The Diamondbacks’ five-game lead in the NL West entering Tuesday’s game against San Francisco is built on their 13-3 record inside the division, and is pretty remarkable from a historical perspective.
The D-Backs led the division by as many as five games only once last season, after Micah Owings’ two-home run tour de force in Atlanta on Aug. 18, when he drove in six runs in a 12-6 victory.
Owings was the winning pitcher Monday, too, when the D-Backs improved to 14-5.
Prior to that one game last season, the D-Backs had not held a five-game lead in the NL West since Sept. 21, 2002, when they had a 5 1-2-game edge en route to the second division title in as many years.
Even in the D-Backs’ 2001 World Series season, their largest division lead was six games, and that lasted only a handful of days.

A Bay Area guy, Bob Melvin always relishes his return trips.
Melvin grew up in Menlo Park, Calif., and was always around sports, either playing or as a fan.
His grandparents had season tickets to the Giants, the San Francisco 49ers and the Golden State Warriors, and it was not hard to find Melvin on game nights. His godfather is the Warriors’ former long-time trainer.
“It takes on significance every time I’m here,” Melvin said.
“It feels like it’s a little bit more special to play games here. It has a lot to do with your youth and growing up here and following baseball in the fashion that we did.”
Although Melvin is not much of a memorabilia collector, he does have the ticket stub from the game where Willie Mays got his 3,000th hit, on July 18, 1970.
“A ground ball in the hole between short and third,” Melvin remembered.
Mays was Melvin’s favorite player, and in Melvin’s first year with San Francisco, 1986, his locker was between that of Mays and Willie McCovey.
“’Murph’ (long-time Giants clubhouse attendant Mike Murphy) knew,” Melvin said.

Catching up with the D-Backs’ next opponent, San Francisco …
First baseman/outfielder Dan Ortmeier abandoned switch-hitting on Tuesday and won a game Wednesday.
Batting right-handed against a right-handed pitcher for the first time in his career, Ortmeier hit a walkoff double off Heath Bell to beat San Diego, 1-0, at AT&T Park. It was the Giants’ second straight walkoff victory.
Ortmeier hit .240 left-handed at Class AAA last season and look lost from the left side in spring training, according to some observers. He was 2 for 14 this season before asked to hit only right-handed.
The D-Backs play the Giants in a three-game series in San Francisco beginning Monday.
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With starter Dave Roberts on the disabled list with a knee injury, manager Bruce Bochy said Fred Lewis will get most of the time in left field, but Rajai Davis and Ortmeier could be out there, too.
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Catcher Bengie Molina is the Giants’ cleanup hitter in place of Barry Bonds. Just don’t tell Molina that.
“No, no, no. I told you guys from the get-go. I’m not a three-hitter, four-hitter or five-hitter. I’m just a hitter. I’m trying to hit the ball somewhere, and that’s all I’m doing.”
Molina hit a walkoff homer off San Diego’s Cla Meredith on Tuesday.

The Diamondbacks will unveil their 10th anniversary team before Saturday’s nationally televised game on Fox, as selected in a vote of the fans.
Here is one man’s ballot:
Manager: Buck Showalter
Catcher: Damian Miller
First base: Erubiel Durazo
Second base: Jay Bell
Shortstop: Tony Womack
Third base: Matt Williams
Left field: Luis Gonzalez
Center field: Steve Finley
Right field: David Dellucci
Reserves: Chris Snyder, Tony Clark, Greg Colbrunn, Orlando Hudson, Craig Counsell, Eric Byrnes
Starting rotation: Randy Johnson, Brandon Webb, Curt Schilling, Brian Anderson, Omar Daal
Bullpen: Jose Valverde, Gregg Olson, Matt Mantei, Miguel Batista, Byung-Hyun Kim, Greg Swindell.

Diamondbacks left fielder Eric Byrnes had some fun with the Coors Field left field taunters during batting practice a few minutes ago.
Byrnes retrieved a ball at the left field fence, and the fans – many of whom were in the process of ripping him for a second straight day – suddenly screamed for a souvenir.
Were they kidding?
Byrnes pretended as if he were going to throw the ball into the stands before returning it to the infield.
It didn’t go over well.
“You suck,” came one creative reply.
Here is the D-Backs lineup against Jeff Francis: CF Chris Young, LF Eric Byrnes, 2B Orlando Hudson, 3B Mark Reynolds, C Chris Snyder, RF Justin Upton, SS Stephen Drew.
Jackson is back after missing two days with an upper respiratory infection.
Reynolds and Snyder flopped for the first time this season. Reynolds has four hits in six at-bats against Francis.

Quick, grab Johnny Cueto on your fantasy team.

 Pitching through the rain, Cincinnati’s Cueto had a perfect game through five innings against the Diamondbacks before Justin Upton lined a home run to left field to lead off the sixth inning.

 Cueto, a Mario Soto protégé, has the power package the D-Backs have seen with Randy Johnson.

 He struck out eight of the first 15 batters he faced with a fastball consistently timed at 96 mph. He also struck out two hitters with an 89 mph slider.

Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin will use the same lineup in Game 2 of the Cincinnati series today that he did in the season opener Monday.
CF Chris Young, 2B Orlando Hudson, LF Eric Byrnes, 1B Conor Jackson, C Chris Snyder, 3B Mark Reynolds, SS Stephen Drew, RF Justin Upton.
Dan Haren will make his first career D-Backs start, and his second straight National League start against Cincinnati.
He beat the Reds, 5-3, on June 20, to finish interleague play 4-0.
Detroit’s Justin Verlander was the only other pitcher to go 4-0 in interleague play last season.
Adam Dunn has a homer in three career at-bats against Haren.