Jose

Valverde

The procedure is scheduled for Wednesday. Valverde is done for the season but should be healthy to battle for the closing job in spring training. Greg Aquino officially has the job to himself the rest of this season.

Valverde has resumed throwing following surgery to repair a partially torn labrum. Contract to reports out of Oakland, he never failed a physical. Still, the A’s weren’t thrilled with what they saw after looking at his medical records. It’s likely that Valverde will stay with Arizona. If healthy, he’ll occupy a setup role at the start of the year. He’s a better pitcher than probable closer Greg Aquino, so he has fantasy upside.

Valverde was to go to Oakland if the two teams agreed to an Eric Byrnes deal. The Diamondbacks denied the report that he failed a recent examination. “He hasn’t failed any type of physical — to say that is an incorrect statemen,” GM Joe Garagiola said, adding that Valverde, who had rotator cuff surgery in September, is expected to start throwing on the side soon.

''Once I straightened out some things with my mechanics, everything went back to normal,’' Valverde said. ''I’m throwing strikes again.’' Now that Valverde is pitching well, Matt Mantei’s margin for error is suddenly a lot smaller.

Manager Al Pedrique said if all continues to go well, he expects Valverde to rejoin the team on its next trip beginning Aug. 23. He may have to share closing duties upon returning.

Valverde has a swollen bursa sac in his shoulder. There’s not any danger of him losing his job to Mike Koplove (4.76 ERA) while he’s out.

There probably isn’t much more than a slight chance that Valverde will return as soon as his 15 days are up. Still, the hope is that he won’t miss too much time.

He’ll return shortly after the All-Star break.

Valverde sure picked the right time to be hurt. The Diamondbacks have lost 10 straight so there haven’t been any save chances. He should return in the first half of July.

Brenly said before Thursday’s game that he wasn’t prepared to make any announcement regarding the closer’s role, that he wanted to first talk with Valverde and pitching coach Chuck Kniffin. ''We’ve got nothing to close,’' he said. ''You bring in a closer when you’ve got a lead in the ninth inning and that hasn’t happened for us for a long time, so I’ll worry about a closer when we need a closer.’' Valverde walked two and gave up the game-winning hit to Damon Minor in a tie game last night -- not a blown save, but not confidence inspiring, either. Next in line in Arizona may actually be Scott Service, who was was 5-0 with eight saves for Triple-A Tucson.