2014 American League Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber will be eligible for arbitration for the first time after the 2015 season, and the Indians will consider signing him to a contract extension that would buy out some or all three of his arbitration years, and perhaps some of his free agent years as well, per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian.
Here’s what Indians president Mark Shapiro had to say about the situation:“Corey represents all of the things we look for in players: dependable, reliable person, committed to his work ethic, talented. Then you look at contracts and you say, ‘Can we find that point where we’re both comfortable with the shared risk?’ We don’t know that right now. That’s something that we’ll have to look at.
“As prioritization of the calendar goes, it’s something we’ll probably look at over the next couple of months. ... He has all the precursors that we would look for to enter into a multiyear agreement.”
Kluber, in his second full season in the majors, took the baseball world by storm in 2014. The right-hander led the league in wins with 18 while posting a 2.34 ERA and a 269/51 K/BB ratio in 235 2/3 innings. He narrowly edged out Mariners starter Felix Hernandez for the AL Cy Young award with 169 points to 159.