Friday News & Notes: Indians look to close the gap in 2015

Welcome to the new and improved News & Notes, now 100% appendix free. Unfortunately, it is also 100% baseball free. Stupid offseason. But I supposed there's a few things still going on that are worth mentioning. Here those be:

Indians news & notes

The Tribe's challenge in closing the gap in the AL Central | Indians Baseball Insider - Are the Indians really that far off from the other ALC contenders, the Tigers and the darling Royals? IBI examines that question by looking at various aspects of each tams' play in 2014.

Should the Indians extend Kluber? | Burning River Baseball - Corey Kluber only made $514,000 in 2014, and he'll be arbitration eligible heading into 2016. Kluber has lots of incentive to sign an extension, but what would be in it for the Tribe?

Klubot, Dr. Smooth nominated for multiple GIBBY awards | Indians.com - The Greatest in Baseball Yearly awards, whatever those are, have nominated Michael Brantley and Corey Kluber for multiple awards thanks to their breakout 2014 performances. Brantley's got three nominations while Kluber has two. The awards are so prestigious, fans can vote for them as many times as they want here.

If the Indians shop Kipnis, what deals should they look for? | Indians Baseball Insider - I don't think the Indians would be too smart to sell low on Jason Kipnis after his awful 2014, but IBI breaks down some possible deals if they decide to ship Kip this offseason.

Kluber-led staff fuels hopes for 2015 | Indians.com - There might be a bunch of holes on this Indians team heading into 2015, but the role of ace isn't one of them. Kluber leads a young staff that looks poised to break out. Let's just hope the defense can step it up. Bastian takes a look at the state of every position as we head into the offseason.

Traded to the playoffs | Did The Tribe Win Last Night? - DTTWLN examines the outcomes of the three biggest LGFT that were traded in the 2014 season.

Tidbits from around MLB

• Over at Sports On Earth, Anthony Castrovince takes a look at ten teams that could be World Series contenders in 2015.
• Get ready. SOE has the first of many looks into why darling Joe Maddon is the perfect fit for those darling loveable losers in Chicago. The thought makes me gag more than the Royals in the World Series.
• Speaking of gag-worthy SOE content, here's a ranking of baseball's all-time dynasties!
• Fangraphs shows why Alex Gordon never could have scored on that 9th inning "single." Unless, of course, he actually ran coming out of the batter's box.
• FG also examines Ned Yost's Yost-y management from Game 7.
• Fox Sports posts one of the many "Aw, the Royals may have lost, but baseball is back n KC!" articles that surely would not have been written about the Indians.
• Kevin Youkilis has decided to retire.