Astros Staring at Another 100 Losses?

By Frank Heinz

| Tuesday, Feb 5, 2013 | Updated 5:04 PM CDT

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The Houston Astros have a grand total of five players with more than two years of major league experience, a first-year manager and a move to the American League to deal with, too.

They also have a payroll projected to be the lowest in baseball since the Florida Marlins spent just under $22 million in 2008.

So why are they so optimistic they can avoid becoming the first team in a half-century to lose 106 games in three consecutive seasons?

General manager Jeff Luhnow says he doesn't see youth as a detriment and believes he's assembled a talented group of players with "a tremendous amount of upside." He says Houston should be much better than people expect.