Dear Bob Dutton, you're breaking my heart

Oh, trade rumors. It's the time of year when I'm simultaneously giddy with anticipation of juicy trades, but nervous that someone I like might get traded away. Behold: Yankees taking a hard look at Bannister as trade deadline nears

By now, y'all have figured out how I feel about Banny. I mean, it says right there in my blog description that he is my favorite Royal. I love the extent to which he's a student of baseball...all pitchers review films and study opposing hitters, but Banny lives, breathes, eats and shits baseball studies. And he still loves baseball. He's the reason I spend more time learning about the game than I ever took the time to learn before; I have always found the game to be interesting, but had never devoted time/money/energy to knowing it until Banny so riveted me last season.

Furthermore, JoePo has the same love affair with the magnificent brain of Brian, so the joys I reap from a Banny day do not end when his start ends - I also get treated to the Banny Log. (Also check out Poz's piece about Bannister in the Star - it's like the B-Log in newspaper form! Heck yeah!)

Anyway, I'm pulling hard for the Yanks to work out some deal with Seattle. Let Jarrod Washburn be a Yankee; I don't want to see Bannister in pinstripes, and besides...what would I do with my Bannister powder blue?

I am intrigued by this trade rumor though. Kind of flattered, even. It's not easy being a fan of someone like Banny sometimes, because not everyone is willing to be patient while he tweaks one thing or re-thinks another, and his ERA hangs out in the neighborhood of five. So people rip him all the time on message boards, other Royals blogs (as I am only one of thousands), and pretty much everywhere. Once he started slumping after that amazing 3-0 start, the negativity about him was everywhere, and while I understand where these people were coming from, I defended him every time because it's Bannister, and that means something to me. So for the Yankees to be courting him makes me feel like JoePo and I are not alone in this; someone else thinks having a Bannister is better than not having one. Like this latest round of adjustments will be the right one, and he'll be able to have more (and not flukey) success for a team scratching its way towards the top of its division.

So if the Yankees see that in him...does that mean the Royals do too? Will they hang on to Banny even if it means losing out on Melky Cabrera, whom they've actively courted before? I'm just selfishly going to sit here and hope the Yanks are successful in their quest to land Jarrod Washburn so I don't have to see my favorite pitcher join the Empire. And I'll probably be wearing that #19 powder blue, just in case.