Luhnow isn’t wed to the K.C. model

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — If one were to boil down the types of players the Astros need most this winter, hard-throwing relievers and contact hitters seem the most obvious. Not because that’s a catchall Kansas City Royals formula but because of a desire for balance.

Yes, those 2015 World Series champion Royals had contact hitters and overpowering relievers who got a franchise to two straight Fall Classics. But in a copycat industry, recent events can leave a skewed perception of the right formula.

Astros relievers finished the year with the fifth-highest strikeout rate in the majors, so they did get swings and misses. Yet their primary relievers lack velocity.

“We’re going try to make some improvements with the team,” Astros owner Jim Crane said of the offseason plan. “I think we’ve got a good minor league system now in place — what we set out to do. We’ve got a nucleus of great players developing. You get in the playoffs under a little pressure, and I think we played well. Our guys got some experience.

“I think we’re just going to try to fill in a few holes — I think those are fairly obvious — and go from there.”

Crane did not say what those holes are. And early this offseason, general manager Jeff Luhnow hasn’t emphasized particular needs outside of lefty relief, an area easy to point to simply because the Astros don’t have any bullpen southpaws on the 40-man roster, aside from minor leaguers.

On Monday, the first day of the GM meetings, Luhnow downplayed the idea that a high-velocity reliever and some better bat-on-ball ability are his targets. Nonetheless, he appeared to acknowledge contact is an area where the Astros could better themselves.

Manager A.J. Hinch has previously said as much. The Astros had the second-lowest contact rate in the majors, 75.9 percent of swings, behind the Cubs’ 74.8.

“The outcomes we’re looking for are to create outs with our pitching staff and create runs with our offense, and there’s many different formulas,” Luhnow said. “We don’t feel like we need a guy throwing 97 or else we’re not going to be successful. We’ve been successful with the guys that we’ve had. If we find a guy that throws hard and gets outs, obviously, we’re interested.

“Same thing on the offensive side of the equation. We produced a lot of runs last year. We had a unique profile because we had a lot of guys who hit for power and had some swing-and-miss in ’em. That’s not going to necessarily continue. It depends on who’s available and how they fit into our lineup.”

Put the regular season aside. What about playoff roster construction? Is that where the Royals left a lesson to be learned — in a short series? A lineup with some contact hitters at the very least sounds like it should be more reliable in a handful of games, that it would eliminate some of the all-or-nothing sense the ’15 Astros gave.

But baseball’s playoffs are unpredictable, and the Astros did use the long ball to great effect in their five Division Series games with the Royals.

“Playoffs, everything is intensely scrutinized because every play matters so much more,” Luhnow said. “But if you’re good enough to get to the playoffs, you’re probably good enough to win in the playoffs. We certainly think about how our team would stack in a short series, even as we’re constructing a team from right now.”

Kansas City was certainly built to win, but there was no chest-thumping at Citi Field, no declaration from Royals GM Dayton Moore — who comes from a more traditional scouting background — that he and his team had proved anyone else wrong.

“I remember as an area scout, one of the first things I was told: Pick players just like you’re in gym class,” Moore said in the dugout as his players celebrated on the field. “Pick the guys you want on your team, and that’s what we’ve always tried to do. We pick players that we like watching play that bring energy, bring value to the community, bring value to the clubhouse.”

Moore said he values his analytics guys and called them special. He said they’re smart and work “their butts off ” and have made him better.

“Everybody’s success is tied together,” Moore said. “Look, when we build our team … with our field, Kauffman Stadium, we’ve got to build it with athleticism; we’ve got to build it with defense.

“If you get a group of people around that believe in one certain philosophy and they all sell out for one another, it’s going to work. You’re going to win. It’s just about getting everybody on the same page. There’s no right way or wrong way to do this.”

As Luhnow keeps his cards close to the vest, the bottom line would seem to be this: If the holes are “fairly obvious,” as Crane said, they involve creating a different, balanced look in the bullpen and lineup.

Otherwise, they’re not all that obvious.