By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL/Designated Writers

The Houston Astros have never been my favorite team — though there have been times I have pulled for them — and even though he once played minor league baseball for Shreveport, I’ve never been a fan of the teams Dusty Baker has managed. (I will admit that I’ve always loved how he managed with sweatbands on.)

But I am big fan of the Astros’ hiring of Baker as their new manager. Clearly, the Astros needed Dusty Baker more than Dusty Baker needed the Astros.

After an off-season like baseball has never seen before, Houston needed to distance itself from the self-created scandal of cheating that has rocked the sport’s foundation.

Which is why Baker is the perfect fit. He is an old school manager, not at all cut from the same analytics cloth like many of today’s managers. Baker manages from the seat of his pants, not from an Excel spreadsheet. Plus, the 2020 season is going to an interesting one, to say the least, for the Astros, one with lots of issues that are both foreseen and unforeseen.

The 70-year-old Baker has managed 22 years in the major leagues (a three-time NL Manager of the Year) and was one bad pitching change away from winning a World Series. And he’s won at least 90 games in four of the last five years he has managed.

He’s got bench cred.

Houston needs somebody who can manage the players as well as he manages a game. That’s Dusty Baker. He’s a winning manager going to a winning team.

The Astros have a long way to go as an organization. This was a giant step in the right direction, regardless of what the results are this season.