The Astros could increase payroll by another $20 million this winter, roughly parallel to the team’s jump from 2013 to 2014, owner Jim Crane said Monday.

“I think somewhere around that,” Crane said at the Astros Foundation charity golf event. “We’re not going to spend it to spend it. We’re going to try to spend it effectively and you know if we need to stretch a little, we’ll stretch a little. If there’s not a good reason to do that, we won’t do that. But you know we’ll continue to move it up.”

The Astros’ payroll for next season will ultimately depend on the eventual resolution of the team’s television situation. Comcast SportsNet Houston, the Astros and Rockets were in bankruptcy court on Monday.

The chances of the Astros making a tremendous push this winter, however, seem slim no matter what.

“It’s pretty simple,” Crane said. “A couple years ago we only got paid half of our rights fees. This year we didn’t get paid anything and this year hopefully we go back and get something paid for our coverage and it’ll have a big impact on what we’ll be able to spend on the team.

“We’d like to see where it ends up. You know, we’re still on plan (as we were) when we started, where we were signing a few free agents last year. I think the intent is to go out and fill a few more holes this year. Two or three more. Jeff (Luhnow) is working on that now. Continue to bring, kind of have it meet in the middle, with he farm system and the guys developing quickly. You saw last year we had some good improvement from a lot of players. See a little bit more of that and add some more cornerstones on the team

The Astros, with a payroll that Luhnow estimated at the start of the year would be in the $50-$60 million range, improved to 70-92 this past season from 51-111.

Crane said the goal for 2015 is the playoffs, not just reaching .500.

“We hope we get closer to .500,” Crane said. “When you look at where our bullpen ended up, got kind of beat up last year. You could factor in some of the losses that we lost at the end of the games, you could stretch it to .500. So this is a year coming up next year where we think we should make some big improvement again.

“We certainly want to try to make the playoffs. You never know with some of the teams that are making it this year. Looked like 88 wins got in. You always want to get in the postseason if we can.”

The two teams in the AL Championship Series are not among the biggest spenders. Baltimore (about $105 million) ranked 14th and Kansas City (about $90 million) ranked 18th. Crane has been paying attention, especially to the Royals as a potential model.

“Certainly. I used to live in Kansas City,” he said. “I’m rooting for ’em a little bit. Baltimore’s got a reasonable payroll too. They built a lot internally, picked up some pieces. I think it just shows that that system work. There’s no secret sauce. Some teams spend a lot more money ’cause they can. And sometimes build it within. And when you get a team built like that it will work sometimes.”

Whether the Astros ever return to the days’ of $100 million payrolls under this ownership, or whether the team continues to operate like a small-market club, is to be seen.

“Well eventually, depending on attendance and you know where the TV deal ends up, you could certainly get to that number at some point along the line,” Crane said of a $100 million payroll. “Hopefully sooner than later.”

ODDS & ENDS

Former Astros interim manager Tom Lawless, an avid golfer, was at the Astros’ charity tournament Monday in Richmond. He played in the 1985 World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals, who lost the World Series that year in seven games to the Kansas City Royals — who, famously, had not returned to the playoffs before this year. Lawless, who lives in St. Louis, has been doing more golfing than TV watching. “The Royals look pretty good from what I heard,” Lawless said. “Any time that you can beat the team that they beat and swept them (the Angels in the American League Division Series), that’s pretty good. It’s going to be a little tough against Baltimore though (in the Championship Series).”

… Lawless is likely to remain in the organization. It appears unlikely that he or interim bench coach Adam Everett will be retained on the major league coaching staff, however.

… This week could bring action with the coaching staff. Pitching coach Brent Strom’s return ostensibly bodes well for bullpen coach Craig Bjornson, while the futures of third-base coach Pat Listach and hitting coach John Mallee are up in the air. Both men were successful, and if they did not return, it would not be a judgment on their capabilities.