Column: Buyout terms suggest that Coach Steve Alford will be staying put at UCLA

Hate to have to remind angry UCLA fans following their basketball team’s humiliating season-ending defeat Wednesday night against USC, but Coach Steve Alford won’t be fired this year.

Or next year.

Or the year after that.

If you care enough about UCLA basketball to demand a coaching change, then you know UCLA would have to pay Alford $10.6 million if they fired him before April 30.

Here’s the part you might not remember: Alford’s buyout will decrease every year, but only slightly — to $7.8 million in 2017 and $5.2 million in 2018.

That’s a lot of money for a public university in a financially troubled state such as California.

When reporter Ken Bensinger first reported the details of Alford’s contract for The Times in 2013, the first line of his story read, “UCLA fans better get used to the sight of Steve Alford.”

Sounds like good advice.

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Jered Weaver underwent an MRI examination on his neck Thursday, a day after his fastball barely cracked 80 mph in an exhibition start. His days as a major league pitcher are numbered.

Weaver will be paid $20 million by the Angels this season, which sounds like a lot for a broken-down pitcher. But he could be making more.

When Weaver extended his contract in 2011, he went against the advice of his agent and gave the Angels a big hometown discount. He signed a five-year deal worth $85 million, about $60 million less than his market value.

“How much do you need?” Weaver said at the time. “Could have got more, whatever. Who cares?”

Weaver’s contract expires at the end of this season.

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The Dodgers’ spring training caps, which feature a cursive D, look almost identical to the caps worn by the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese league.

That was the team Tom Selleck’s character played for in the movie “Mr. Baseball.”

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Dodgers blue-chip pitching prospect Jose De Leon had a rough outing Thursday, according to a scout who watched him give up two runs and four hits in two innings. De Leon is known to throw in the mid-90s, but his fastball velocity was down in the 88-92 mph range.

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Gary Klein is about a month into his new position as The Times’ Rams beat writer and already has reported on an alleged crime. Welcome to the NFL, Mr. Klein.

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Former welterweight contenders Jesus Soto Karass and Yoshihiro Kamegai will fight April 15 at the 2,500-seat Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles, which is about as entertaining a fight as will ever take place in a venue of that size.

Soto Karass and Kamegai lack technical refinement, which actually makes them crowd-pleasing fighters. They constantly move forward, throw a lot of hard shots and block punches with their faces. Their bout should be particularly violent.

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“The World’s Best are Coming to the U.S.!” reads the website for the Copa America Centenario, a tournament featuring 16 of the top national soccer teams in North and South America.

But will the world’s best really be here in June?

Neymar probably won’t be; Brazil Manager Dunga has said he would rather have his star play in the Olympics.

As of now, Lionel Messi of Argentina, Alexis Sanchez of Chile and James Rodriguez of Colombia are expected to play in the tournament. Don’t be surprised, though, if any of them drop out.

Top players have absurd workloads these days, and most of their club teams are involved in multiple competitions: domestic league, domestic cup and continental championships. Messi, for example, played 56 games for FC Barcelona in the 2014-2015 season.

The summer is supposed to be their off-season, but many of them have played through that too. The top teams in South America not only played in the World Cup in 2014 but also in Copa America last summer.

Follow Dylan Hernandez on Twitter: @dylanohernandez