Astros focus on improving

West Palm Beach warmup begins

The Houston Astros are still thinking about their terrible start to last season and are determined to start things off much better this year.

As the Astros prepare for the start of spring training this week in West Palm Beach, that 7-17 mark is still firmly in their minds. The Astros got it together after that awful month, but it put them in too big a hole to dig out of and they just missed reaching the playoffs for the second straight season.

“We weren’t expecting that bad start,” general manager Jeff Luhnow said. “Nobody was, and once it happened people were a little bit paralyzed [like]: ‘What do we do?’ ”

The Astros added Carlos Beltran, Josh Reddick and Brian McCann this offseason and Luhnow thinks the trio of proven veterans will help Houston’s young and talented core better deal with the ups and downs of a 162-game season.

“I think we have a better chance of surviving a downturn, because we know the downturns are coming,” Luhnow said.

Luhnow was confident in his team last season, but believes the offseason additions make the Astros a much more complete team and he expects them to compete for the ALWest crown. The added depth will also give manager A.J. Hinch options if his starters struggle.

“A.J. is going to have more weapons,” Luhnow said. “Last year Carlos [Correa] got off to a slow start, Colby [Rasmus] got off to a slow start, but those were regular players and there really wasn’t anybody to take their spot. This year if someone gets off to a slow start, there’s another player there and you can give him a shot.”

Some things to know about the Astros as they open spring training: that Beltran still enjoys playing in the outfield and will get plenty of time there, too.

Along with Beltran, the Astros beefed up their outfield by adding Reddick and Norichika Aoki and parted ways with Rasmus, who hit just .206 in an injury-filled 2016.