How Real is B Bannister?

[StringerBell]

Brian Bannister is 10-7 for the Royals this year. I know his Wins will be up-in-the-air pitching for KC.
What really interests me is his sub-3.50 ERA and sub-1.200 WHP. Is he the kind of pitcher that will continue doing well in those categories into 2008? He is getting better while other upstarts like Guthrie, Marshall, Germano and Gaudin have peaked and fallen off.

[nyrblue2]

I haven't seen him much this year, but I did get a chance to see him with the Mets before and after his injury last year. He was (at the time) probably the Mets best prospect SP. Pelfrey and Humber were still too young to be in that convo. He has real good stuff and it doesn't surprise me at all to see him posting those numbers. I can see him posting similar numbers next year. You hit the nail on the head though that his only downside is the team that surrounds him.

I couldn't believe when we trade him away for Ambiorix Burgos (a wild RP that has sice been sent to the minors). With the Mets' aging SP staff, I think we really needed a young arm like Bannister.

[StringerBell]

Funny that the reply came from a MET fan. I actually took a chance on Bannister at the beginning of last year. If I remember right, he was winning and had great ERA. His WHP was just AWFUL, 1.800 or something like that! But he was toughing out the innings and not letting up runs.

Maybe he`s a nice diamond in the rough for quality innings. Heck, 10+ wins aint too shabby either.

[wildbill]

ESPN's Tristan Cockcroft had this to say about Bannister in todays chat:

"I don't see a future ace in him...[but]...He's so very much like what Jake Westbrook has been the past couple of years, in my mind. That's not a great arm, but it's a solid one, a type you only sit against elite offenses, or when he's cold"