Wed N&N: Indians and Kluber "not close" on extension; but that is okay

The Indians have met with 2014 Cy Young winner Corey Kluber's agent to discuss a long-term contract. They were "not close" to coming to a deal, according to Jon Heyman. But there's nothing wrong with that. The Indians control Kluber's rights until he turns 33 years old. While his salaries through arbitration would certainly skyrocket before that time, it allows the Indians to pay a theoretically fair price for Kluber until the time comes when he would be a free agent... which is a while away.

As we've seen this year, last year and so on, pitchers get injured fairly often. As we also saw 12 months ago, it sure ended up being a good thing that Justin Masterson turned down that offer that most of us thought was a lowball by the Indians.

Here, on something called the "Tribe Beat Podcast" our buddy August Fagerstrom discusses the pros and cons of an extension with, presumably, other Tribe beat writers. I have not listened to it, but I assume it sounds at least a little like what I just wrote.

Other Tribe News and Notes

Over at Sports on Earth, a ranking of third base coaches exists. The Indians' Mike Sarbaugh comes in at "better than average" with an "extra base factor" of 56.9.

In case you missed it, Michael Brantley and Corey Kluber are on one of the 4 SI covers this week. But it appears that our cover is the only one of the four that predicts a championship. It'll be ok.

Bruce Chen, Scott Downs, Shaun Marcum and Ryan Rohlinger were informed that they did not make the ballclub.

Over at Fangraphs, August Fagerstrom looks at every MLB team's projected 2015 WAR from second base. Jason Kipnis, Jose Ramirez, Zach Walters and *shudder* the Weather take 10th place.

Brandon Moss is ahead of schedule in his recovery. Meanwhile, Joey Wendle kicks around some infield dirt.

The Indians released these seven minor leaguers yesterday:

Minor League releases P Anthony Vizcaya P Rob Nixon P Wander Beras INF Leonardo Castillo 1B Jerrud Sabourin C Richard Stock P Alexis Paredes

— Tribeinsider (@tribeinsider) March 24, 2015

Other AL Central News and Notes

Brian Dozier signed a $20M deal with the Twins that buys out all of his arbitration years. Here's Castrovince on Dozier.

Other MLB News and Notes

The Dodgers signed a ballplayer named Hector Olivera to a 6-year, $62.5M contract. But he might need Tommy John surgery. If he does, the Dodgers get a 7th season at $1M.

The Astros AAA team is very excited about all the players they're about to lose to the Astros. They see a CHAMPIONSHIP(!) in the future, specifically in 2017.

The qualifying offer hanging over his head killed most of the interest in Michael Cuddyer.