VERMILION — They went further last year than any Indians team since 1998. The obvious goal is to go even further this season.
A year removed from winning their first Central Division title since 2001 and advancing to the American League Championship Series, the Indians are bent on taking the next step to the World Series.
It’s a place they haven’t visited since 1997 and an event that they haven’t won in 59 years.
“Last year, we did a pretty good job. It was a great season for us,” said outfielder Franklin Gutierrez, who along with relief pitcher Aaron Fultz, hitting instructor Derek Shelton and minor leaguer Jeff Stevens, was at Vermilion’s German’s Villa on Thursday as part of the Indians’ annual press tour. “This year, I think our minds are set on playing hard, taking it step-by-step and doing what we did last year, only a little more.”
Falling short of their goal of playing for a world championship last year was tough enough. The circumstances surrounding the final defeat made it even rougher.
With a 3-1 ALCS lead over Boston and ace C.C. Sabathia going in Game 5, the Indians dropped the final three games of the series and watched the Red Sox go on to win their second World Series in four years.
“We played good in that series,” Gutierrez said. “You have to give some credit to Boston. (The Red Sox) started hitting. They got hot and carried it into the World Series. Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose.”
It was a breakthrough year of sorts for Gutierrez, a 24-year-old native of Caracas, Venezuela, who, though he didn’t produce eye-popping numbers — .266, 13 home runs and 36 RBIs — was able to supplant veteran Trot Nixon as the right field starter midway through last season.
The slick-fielding Gutierrez started the majority of Cleveland’s postseason games and appears to be ready to pick up where he left off, with Nixon not expected to return.
“That’s what I have in my mind, to start in right field,” said Gutierrez, who played in 100 of the Indians’ 162 regular-season games last year, starting 70 of them in the outfield (59 in right). “But I know that I have to play hard and do the little things, because I don’t know that I have that job. There’s guys behind me that can play, too.”
Gutierrez is just one of the regulars returning for the Indians, who haven’t done much this offseason in terms of additions, while two of their Central Division rivals — Detroit and Chicago — have been busy.
Still, Cleveland’s rotation and bullpen is intact with all of its most high-profiled offensive weapons — i.e. Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez — under contract.
“For the core guys, it’s another year of them learning themselves,” Shelton said. “The adjustments guys are going to have to make are going to be important. The league’s going to start to adjust. Our challenge is to make sure they adjust and stay ahead of that.”
“We’ve got the same team, young guys with veteran guys or older guys that have played in the big leagues,” Gutierrez said. “We have a pretty good group of guys, power, speed  and a great pitching staff.
“If we do the little things, we’ll be all right.”
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.
 

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