Red Sox miss out on reliever Tommy Kahnle, signs with rival Yankees
Boston misses out on adding Kahnle for a second time on free agency
The Yankees will sign former Dodgers reliever Tommy Kahnle, per Jon Heyman. Kahnle returns to the Yankees after spending the last two years in the Dodgers organization.
The 33-year-old Kahnle pitched with the Dodgers in 2022. In 13 games, the right-handed hurler had 14 strikes outs, one save, 2.84 ERA, 0.632 WHIP, surrendered four earned runs in 12 2/3 innings of work.
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It was Kahnle’s first season back from 2020 Tommy John surgery. He did make his Dodgers debut in May but went on the IL with right forearm inflammation. He would miss the majority of the regular season and didn’t return until September.
Prior to having Tommy John surgery, Kahnle was a key member of the Yankees bullpen. The New York native posted a 3.67 ERA over 61 1/3 innings with the Yankees, appearing in a career-high 72 games.
Kahnle relies on a two-pitch mix, a four-seam fastball and changeup. He predominantly throws his changeup and he compliments it with his fastball. His four-seamer averaged 95.5 mph last season. Which was down from 2020 season where it clocked in at 97.4 mph on average per Baseball Savant. He should see it tick back up in velocity as he continues to come back from Tommy John surgery.
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The news that the Red Sox had interest in Kahnle was first reported by Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Speier noted the Sox had competition for the right-hander. In the middle of the night, Chris Cotillo of MassLive confirmed Speier’s report noting that a deal could come together.
“We came into this offseason on the pitching side of things wanting to add multiple arms to the bullpen, hopefully at least three, maybe more if we see the opportunity is there,” chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said on Monday at the Winter Meetings. “That was something we wanted to prioritize, targeting specific relievers we like, that we think will help us win games and bring ingredients that help the puzzle fit. It’s obviously an area we struggled in ‘22.
“A big part of the improvement we’re hoping to see has to come from getting more out of guys that are here and helping them reach their ceilings. That can really take us to the next level, but we also felt we couldn’t sit on our hands with the group we had. We had to go out and add to it and we’re in the middle of doing that.”
Unfortunately, Bloom finished second once again this offseason. Boston is still going to add to the bullpen this winter, but will move forward without Kahnle.
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