Matthew Florjancic, WKYC 4:29 PM. EST February 13, 2017

Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis (22) and designated hitter Carlos Santana (41) celebrate after both scoring on a wild pitch by Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lester in the fifth inning in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series at Progressive Field. (Photo: Tommy Gilligan, Custom)

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians pitchers and catchers reported to Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona, on Sunday for the official beginning to Spring Training for the defending American League champions.

In the abbreviated offseason following a run to the World Series for the first time in 19 years, the Indians handled plenty of business, re-signing all but one of their arbitration-eligible players and adding a middle-of-the-order power hitter in Edwin Encarnacion with the richest free-agent contract in franchise history.

With the Indians in camp for more than six weeks because of the World Baseball Classic, there will be plenty of time to work on fundamentals. However, the Indians need to work on chemistry and avoid complacency after the deep playoff run.

Ourselves, ourselves, shortstop Francisco Lindor told WKYC.com at TribeFest. If we play like were the AL champs, were not going to go anywhere. I feel like weve got to play with the same chip that we had last year, like were going to shock the world.

Were going to let the world know that were the Tribe and were coming for them. This year, were going to have to stay quiet, mind our own business and well see what happens. I think anything can happen once October comes by.

NO COMFORT FOR LINDOR

In his first full season with the Indians, Lindor made the American League All-Star team, led the franchise on its first trip to the World Series since 1997 and earned postseason recognition for his efforts.

At the plate, Lindor batted .301 with 182 hits in 604 at-bats, 99 runs scored and 78 driven in. Lindor smacked 30 doubles, three triples and 15 home runs with 19 stolen bases, a .358 on-base percentage and .435 slugging percentage.

In the postseason, Lindor hit .310 with 18 hits, three doubles, two home runs and six RBI along with five runs scored.

Comfortable? No. I dont ever want to get comfortable, said Lindor, who won an AL Gold Glove in 2016. I feel like Ive still got a lot to prove. We havent won. Yeah, maybe we went to the World Series, but we didnt win. It was cool; it was fun, but I want to win. I want to wear that World Series ring.

CHEMISTRY IS KEY

The Indians finished one win shy of their first World Series Championship since 1948 when they surrendered a three-games-to-one lead and lost Game 7 of The Fall Classic to the Chicago Cubs in extra innings at Progressive Field last November.

In an effort to get over the obstacles and complete what they started in 2016, the Indians went to one of their opponents in the AL playoffs, the Toronto Blue Jays, to bring in Encarnacion, who signed a three-year contract, one that includes a club option for the 2020 season.

Thats always the interesting part of spring training, manager Terry Francona said. Every team, every year, even the guys that are coming back, its a different team. The identity, the personality, thats what we work on in spring training, and we work hard at it because its meaningful.

ADDING POP TO LINEUP

In 12 years at the Major League level, Encarnacion has hit .266 with 1,439 hits in 5,409 at-bats in 1,513 career games. Of those 1,439 hits, 629 have gone for extra bases, including 311 doubles and 310 home runs. Also, Encarnacion has driven in 942 runs, scored another 829 and drawn 662 walks.

During his final year with the Blue Jays, Encarnacion hit .263 (158 for 601) with 34 doubles, 42 home runs and 127 runs batted in over 160 games. He set career highs with the 158 hits, 99 runs scored, 76 extra-base hits, 127 RBI and 318 total bases. The 42 round-trippers matched his single-season career best.

When you add a really good hitter, it makes everybody else better, but we didnt have Michael Brantley either, Francona said. Thats really our three and four hitters. Imagine if we have two All-Stars that we didnt have last year.

Its going to back up a couple guys. Its going to lengthen out our lineup. I know we have some work to do and we havent gotten Michael back on the field yet, but if we can get him back, its going to be exciting because we would never give a pitcher an inning off. Youre always coming, coming, coming, coming, and thats how you win.

( 2017 WKYC)

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Cleveland Indians must develop chemistry, avoid complacency in spring training - WKYC-TV