Sep 19, 2013; Cleveland, OH, USA; Houston Astros third baseman Matt Dominguez (30) fields a ground ball in the fifth inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

After making news for offering a contract to George Springer last September, and then today sending down all their top prospects, it appears as if the Houston Astros may be close to extending a few of their players.

Sources: Astros, 3B Matt Dominguez closing in on five-year contract extension worth around $17M with two club options for ~$8M and ~$10M. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 20, 2014

Astros continuing trend of giving players guaranteed money in hopes of striking big with under-market deals. Risk with Dominguez is bat. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 20, 2014

The news about Dominguez isn’t too surprising. He is coming off a season where he hit just .241 but smacked 21 home runs and 77 RBI from the bottom of the Astros lineup. The 24-year old was the 12th overall pick in 2007 and is known for his great defense at third base.

Offering Dominguez the extension (and him accepting it) would keep him in Houston until he is 29-years old plus another two club options. The Astros have 3B Rio Ruiz who is widely considered a top 8-12 prospect in their farm system, but he is still a few years away. Having Dominguez locked up at a cheap rate would be a wise move for the Astros.

Evan Drellich (Houston Chronicle) was told an extension wasn’t quite finished.

A person with knowledge of the situation told the Chronicle on Thursday that a report that the Astros and third baseman Matt Dominguez were closing in on an extension was inaccurate.

The Astros may be on their way towards an extension with Dominguez but it could take a few days to finalize.

The Astros are also having conversations with Robbie Grossman and Jason Castro about signing extensions with the club.

Astros have engaged OF Robbie Grossman and C Jason Castro on extensions too. @Ken_Rosenthal reported $23M offer to prospect George Springer. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 20, 2014

Evan Drellich spoke with Jef Luhnow who says they always have conversations about locking up their young players.

Any one of our young players, you can rest assured, at some point we will have, at a minimum, conversations internally about the different paths: of going year to year vs. trying to lock him up and giving them some certainty in exchange for potentially a year or two after their arbitration years. So we do talk about it with all of them. I’m not going to tell you which ones we prioritize higher than others, but you can rest assured we have had those conversations internally about Jason.

If you have noticed, the Astros are pretty quiet when it comes to signings and transactions, and you usually don’t hear many whispers about it until it becomes official.

Our policy is not to discuss who we’re talking to, whether it’s free agents or talking contracts with internal players. So the world hopefully won’t find out until after things are done, when we do extend our own players, similarly to how we did with Altuve. And we did it quietly, and we were able to do it in a more comfortable environment for both the player and the club, and when it was over, we were able to talk about why.

We all love the rumors but the Astros are doing things the right way.

I expect the Astros to agree on an extension with Dominguez within the near future. He’s earned it.