The Dodgers announced that right-handed pitcher Tommy Kahnle has been activated off the injured list, relays J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. Lefty Garrett Cleavinger has been optioned to create space on the active roster.
Kahnle, 32, last pitched in a major league game July 26, 2020, when with the Yankees. He underwent Tommy John surgery after that and has been working his way back to health ever since. Many pitchers have been able to secure themselves two-year deals while recuperating from TJS, with the team usually backloading the contract due to the fact that they won’t get any contributions in the first year. Kahnle signed such a deal with the Dodgers, earning $750K last year and $3.45MM this year, with a further $750K available in incentives.
Kahnle oscillated between dominating and struggling during the seasons preceding his surgery. In 2017, split between the White Sox and Yankees, he threw 62 2/3 innings with a 2.59 ERA, incredible 37.5% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate. The next year, however, just about everything went in the wrong direction, as his ERA shot up to 6.56, with a 28% strikeout rate and 14% walk rate. He was able to swing the pendulum back the other way in 2019, though not quite as dominant as 2017. In 61 1/3 innings, he registered a 3.67 ERA, with 35.5% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate. He threw just a single inning in 2020 before hitting the injured list.
In 6 1/3 innings of rehab work in the minors so far this year, he’s allowed two earned runs while striking out seven and walking just one. He’ll add another powerful arm to the Dodgers’ bullpen mix, jockeying for high-leverage roles with Daniel Hudson and Brusdar Graterol, forming an impressive bridge to closer Craig Kimbrel.
Too much Dodgers hype this season imo. Getting Freeman & losing Seager seems like a lateral move *at best* (FF is much older, CS is more clutch, defense is a wash). Plus LAD’s schedule til June is incredibly soft: only a handful of games vs +500 teams, & they played ATL w/out Acuña, SD w/out Tatis, soon SF without Belt…
Betts, Bellinger, Muncy, J Turner all seem to be regressing or breaking down physically. Pitching staff is a question mark. How exactly are they the best team in baseball history?
Gosh, I haven’t seen a post from this neon cop guy before. Oh well, I am sure he is a nice fellow. As we all know, God takes care of children and fools. Odds are, he is one or the other.
Fox:
I doubt that Neon Cop is a fool or a child. More likely, he is just a common troll.
Nothing wrong with Dodger pitching:
Starters all have an ERA of 2.50 or less:
Bueller
Urias
Kershaw
Gonsolin
Anderson
Heaney
Miller waiting in wings
Nothing wrong with Dodger relievers:
I am a Kimbrel skeptic
but add
Treinan
Hudson
Kahnle
Graterol
Vesia
Bruihl
Bickford
Moronta
Bobby Miller if needed
looks good.
Betts or Belli falling apart. Nah. Betts looks good this year. Belli still has a lot of swing and miss but he looks healthier than last year and improved (admit that it did not take much)
Turner is aging some, but he will bounce back, and is best suited at DH once Muncy is healthy. Agree that Muncy still shows residual injury effect
But with a lineup of
Freeman
Betts
Trea Turner
Will Smith the catcher
Chris Taylor
Justin Turner
Max Muncy
Gavin Lux
Cody Bellinger
Rios
and Miguel Vargas and Busch waiting in the wings,
the Dodgers are as good a team as any on paper.
Could Atlanta, Mets, Brewers, Padres or Giants beat them, sure. But the Dodgers are playing well and they just freed themselves from the Bauer albatross. Not too worried about the troll.
no trolling at all — I’m just missing why there’s endless media slurping around this team. almost everyone LAD has played so far (& will play before june) is either sub-500, missing its best player, or otherwise depleted. SF had a triple-A lineup out there this series, for example. obviously the schedule will even out afterward, but let’s see how they hold up against actual talent.
Corey Seager was awful in the postseason outside of 2020. At SS, you need a player there that can make all the routine plays. Seager cannot do that.
It’s also silly to make assumptions about a team in April. The last two full season champs did not peak until after the All-Star break
While I mostly agree with needing someone to make all the routine plays, the Dodgers as a whole have been brutal defensively so far.
Not sure what this comment is doing in this thread exactly, but since you said it, good luck finding any projection that doesn’t give the Dodgers the most wins in baseball. I’m also pretty sure you don’t know what regression means, but that’s another story.
This post is about the Dodgers, as was mine. Really not hard to see the link…
I’ll keep the receipts of this for October… why not put your money where your mouth is?
yeah nah
Saying that Seager and Freeman are a push on defense is saying you haven’t actually watched either player.
excited to see what Kahnle is going to add to the bp
In 2018 Kahnle was injured and kept it to himself. Once that was taken care of, his 2019 was fine. Cashman finds guys like him all the time.
If he’s half as good with the Dodgers, he’s a steal, especially at $3.5-4.2mm (depending on the incentives)…
He’ll be a good addition to their pen as long as he’s fully recovered.
Looked really good today
Always loved Kahnle and Moronta from the outside (* Graterol as well) , going to be a pleasure watching them up close in Blue
This bullpens so so good…going to make the ledger easier to navigate for years to come
If I was other teams I’d be trying to snatch up some of these roster casualties for .80 cents on the dollar …Problem being Dodgers don’t need much and probably don’t care about shedding cash too much this year for a buy either. I hope we keep um all
Trienan proectedj back – May 3
White May 10
2 lefties Ferguson /Voctor G – May 15
Duffy June 1
May Aug 16
Nelson Sept 1
Price…….how he cracks this staff will only be thru Dl hoops (May 10)
Anybody know why everything I post on this site comes up twice? It’s maddening.