Astros second baseman Jose Altuve was on Venezuela’s initial roster for the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow said Monday. Official rosters will be unveiled Thursday. Ryan Braun, Giancarlo Stanton, R.A. Dickey and Craig Kimbrel are expected to be on Team USA. Luhnow said there’s a chance Altuve is left off Venezuela’s final roster. But Luhnow made it clear Monday that Houston expects to conduct nearly a month of spring training without its top player in 2012. The WBC is scheduled Mar. 2-19 in cities including San Francisco, Miami and Tokyo. MLB spring training begins early this year — Astros pitchers and catchers report Feb. 11 — [...]