D-Backs working to extend Melvin’s contract

Bob Melvin surprised many by leading the young Diamondbacks to the 2007 National League West Division championship, and they are negotiating his reward.

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The D-Backs have approved an extension to Melvin’s contract, and the sides are working on the final details, according to industry sources.

In the most likely scenario, the D-Backs would turn Melvin’s option year, 2009, into a fully guaranteed year while adding at least one more year to the deal.

Melvin already has been named the NL manager of the year in a vote of his peers conducted by The Sporting News after leading the D-Backs to a 90-72 regular-season record and their first division title since 2002.

The D-Backs won their first playoff series since 2001 by sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the NL division series before being swept by Colorado in the NL championship series.

They did that with a young nucleus that Melvin nurtured through the regular season — his starting lineup often including three rookies and at times, five, while overcoming season-ending surgeries to Randy Johnson, Chad Tracy and Orlando Hudson.

An announcement on Melvin could come in the next few days as the D-Backs work to retain their entire staff.

The D-Backs already have picked up pitching coach Brian Price’s 2008 option, and both bench coach Kirk Gibson and hitting coach Rick Schu are under contract through 2008.

The other three coaches — third-base coach Chip Hale, first base coach Lee Tinsley and bullpen coach Glenn Sherlock — have contracts that expire today, but all three have been invited back and are expected to return.

If the D-Backs wanted to sign one of those coaches to a two-year deal, he would have more security than the manager, a situation that would be rectified with a change in Melvin’s status.

It would be the second contract revision in two years for Melvin, who was given a two-year extension at the 2006 All-Star break.

That deal turned 2007-08 option years into guaranteed years at $1 million apiece while adding a $1 million option for 2009.

Melvin is “very much a part of the solution,” general manager Josh Byrnes said when announcing that extension.

Melvin is 243-243 in three seasons with the D-Backs, who have had better records in each of his three seasons than the mathematical models project.

They won 11 more games than the numbers would suggest in 2007, the largest difference in the majors, while becoming the sixth team in history to reach the playoffs while scoring fewer runs than they allowed.