Tigers Sign Tommy Kahnle

The Tigers are adding to one of their primary strengths from the 2024 season, announcing the signing of veteran right-handed reliever Tommy Kahnle to a one-year, $7.75MM contract. Detroit designated Alex Faedo for assignment in a corresponding move. Kahnle is represented by the Ballengee Group.

Kahnle, 35, has been oft-injured in recent years but when healthy has been one of the top setup arms in the sport on a rate basis. He’s only pitched 97 frames dating back to 2020, but 83 of those innings have come over the past two seasons. And, since 2020, he touts a pristine 2.41 ERA with a 28% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate. He’s been placed into 38 save situations and tallied 32 holds and four saves along the way, only being saddled with two blown saves in that span.

Though Kahnle is right-handed, he carries neutral platoon splits because he possesses one of the game’s best changeups. That helps him mitigate damage against lefties, and the pitch is effective enough for him to use in right-on-right settings as well. He’s held fellow righties to a .206/.307/.343 slash in his career and seen lefties hit him at a similar .215/.295/.359 pace.

Because his changeup is so effective, Kahnle has taken the already frequent use of the pitch to new heights over the past three years. Since 2022, he’s thrown his changeup a comical 74.6% of the time on the mound. He famously threw 61 consecutive changeups as the Yankees progressed through the postseason this year. It’s hard to blame him for leaning on the pitch so heavily; opponents have slashed just .175/.236/.287 against Kahnle’s changeup in his career — including an even worse .157/.227/.264 slash in 2024.

Kahnle adds a seasoned setup arm to a Tigers relief corps on which manager A.J. Hinch leaned heavily down the stretch. Late in the season, Detroit was typically only using Tarik Skubal and Reese Olson as starters, following that duo with a series of bullpen games where any pitcher could be called upon at any time. The addition of Kahnle might add a bit more order and structure to what Hinch termed “pitching chaos.” Detroit doesn’t have a set closer at the moment, but Kahnle’s experience in high-leverage spots should put him in that mix along with Beau Brieske and Jason Foley, who paced the team with 28 saves in 2024.

With Kahnle, Brieske, Foley, Tyler Holton and Will Vest likely to handle late-inning work, the Tigers’ bullpen is largely taking shape. They’ll have Kenta Maeda in a long role as he looks to potentially pitch his way back into the rotation mix. Sean Guenther, Brenan Hanifee, Brant Hurter and former closer Alex Lange will be in the mix for innings as well.

The $7.75MM guarantee on Kahnle’s deal will take the Tigers to a payroll just shy of $119MM. That stands as an increase of roughly $15MM over the team’s 2024 levels but still sits nowhere close to the franchise-record $200MM mark reached under late owner Mike Ilitch (whose son, Chris, is now the team’s chairman and CEO).

The Tigers have recently been connected to seasoned late-inning relievers, specifically names with closing experience. They’ve also been prominently involved in third baseman Alex Bregman’s market. Given that interest, it would stand to reason there’s at least room for one more bullpen addition if the team prefers — the cost of Kahnle plus a second reliever would still fall well shy of even one year of Bregman’s salary — though it’s unclear whether the team has earmarked some potential funds for the longtime Houston third baseman or if the deal with Kahnle is the start of a pivot in a new direction.

The Tigers have added three free agents this offseason, though none has inked a deal longer than a year in length. Right-hander Alex Cobb and infielder Gleyber Torres both agreed to one-year deals with a $15MM guarantee.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the two sides were close to a deal. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic added that it’d be for one year. Robert Murray of FanSided reported the finalized agreement and the $7.75MM guarantee.