he was traded by the braves with damian moss to the san francisco giants for russ ortiz on december 17, 2002. he was named san francisco's minor league player of the year and selected as a low a all-star in 2003 when he went 9-5 with a 2.25 era for the hagerstown suns in the south atlantic league. in 2004, valdez pitched for single-a san jose giants, double-a norwich navigators, triple-a fresno grizzlies, and made his major league debut on august 1, 2004 against the st. louis cardinals. he appeared in 2 games for the giants, working 1.2 innings for a 27.00 era. valdez was selected to the world squad for the all-star futures game for 3 consecutive years (2003–05), held in conjunction with mlb all-star festivities.