White Sox Trade Floyd Bannister to Royals for 4 Young Pitchers

The Kansas City Royals acquired left-hander Floyd Bannister from the Chicago White Sox Thursday night for four young pitchers.

The White Sox sent Bannister and minor league infielder Dave Cochrane to Kansas City for right-handers John Davis, Melido Perez and Chuck Mount, and left-hander Greg Hibbard.

Bannister, 32, tied a career high for victories by going 16-11 with a 3.58 earned-run average in 1987. He succeeded despite Chicago’s 77-85 record and improved his career mark to 117-128 for 11 seasons.

Bannister, who completed 11 games in 34 starts, was 14-11 in 1984, and 10-14 in both 1985 and 1986. He signed as a free agent with the White Sox after the 1982 season and helped Chicago win the American League West in 1983 by going 16-10.

Bannister, who earned $930,000 last season, will take Danny Jackson’s place in the starting rotation. Jackson, also a left-hander, was sent to Cincinnati last month in a multi-player deal. The Royals’ pitching staff remains in limbo, though, because Charlie Leibrandt is still a free agent.

The Kansas City-Chicago trade came one day after baseball’s winter meetings officially ended. But the Royals made an offer early Thursday morning, and the two teams stayed at the meeting site to complete the deal.

Davis was 5-2 with the Royals last season with a 2.27 ERA in 27 games. Perez was 1-1 in three games with the Royals, and 8-5 at Double-A Memphis. Hibbard was a combined 16-9 with three minor league teams, and Mount had a combined 21 saves with three minor league clubs.