Red Sox add veteran reliever Kahnle on Minors deal (source)
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The Red Sox are taking a flier on a well-traveled reliever with postseason experience, agreeing to a Minor League deal with Tommy Kahnle, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand on Tuesday. The club has not confirmed the move.
Entering his age-36 season in 2026, Kahnle had been one of MLB’s most dependable relievers before taking a bit of a step back with Detroit last season. He posted a 4.43 ERA for the Tigers in 2025 -- his highest in seven years -- but the veteran right-hander pitched to a 2.90 ERA from 2019-24 (he pitched just once in ‘20 and missed the entire ’21 campaign recovering from Tommy John surgery).
While there were some troubling trends in 2025, particularly his lower strikeout rate (18.7%, 21st percentile in MLB) and higher walk rate (11.6%, 8th percentile), his changeup -- which he uses more than any other pitch -- was still effective and he induced relatively soft contact.
Opponents hit .217 against Kahnle’s changeup in 2025, which he threw 85.6% of the time, the highest usage right for a single pitch by any MLB pitcher. The hard-hit rate against him was a career-high 37.3%, but that still ranked among the top 25% of qualified pitchers. And Kahnle’s ground-ball rate, while down from 2024, was still 47.6%, which also ranked in the 75th percentile.
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Kahnle, a fifth-round pick in 2010 by the Yankees, was taken by the Rockies in the Rule 5 Draft three years later. He made his Major League debut with Colorado in 2014, and he spent the first two seasons of his career with the Rockies before being traded to the White Sox. He was dealt to the Yankees ahead of the Trade Deadline in 2017.
Upon returning from Tommy John surgery, Kahnle signed with the Dodgers for the 2022 season. Elbow issues limited him to 13 appearances for Los Angeles before he re-signed with the Yanks and posted a 2.38 ERA over the next two seasons.
Kahnle also brings significant postseason experience to the table. He’s made 31 playoff appearances with a 3.06 ERA.
The hope is that since he’s just a year removed from an excellent performance -- and he’s been fairly durable over the past three seasons -- Kahnle’s middling 2025 will turn out to be just an aberration.