The Red Sox reached agreement with veteran reliever Tommy Kahnle on a minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The Covenant Sports Group client will presumably be in camp as a non-roster invitee. Ari Alexander of Boston 7 News reports that the deal comes with a $1.5MM base salary and $250K in bonuses if he reaches the MLB roster.
Kahnle spent the 2025 season in Detroit on a $7.75MM free agent deal. It didn’t pan out as the Tigers envisioned. The right-hander allowed a 4.43 earned run average while striking out only 18.7% of opponents, easily a career low. The drop in production really came in the second half. Kahnle took a 1.77 ERA and solid 23.3% strikeout rate into July. He was blitzed for nearly eight runs per nine innings while walking more batters than he struck out the rest of the way.
There wasn’t any kind of dramatic drop-off in Kahnle’s stuff — not that hitters weren’t fully aware what was coming either way. Kahnle throws his changeup more than 85% of the time. That’s the highest rate in MLB by a mile. Devin Williams was the only other pitcher to throw a changeup (which is how Statcast buckets his trademark “Airbender”) at least half the time. Williams went to that pitch at a 52% clip.
Kahnle has had success with this approach for years, so it’s not as if hitters suddenly caught onto the pattern at last season’s All-Star Break. They did a better job laying off when he threw it out of the zone, though, leading to a drop in whiffs and a spike in walks down the stretch. The Tigers continued to use Kahnle in reasonably high-leverage spots and pitched him four times in eight playoff games. He gave up three runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks across 2 1/3 innings in October.
Although he’s signing just over a week from Opening Day, the 36-year-old Kahnle should be ready for the beginning of the season. He pitched in the World Baseball Classic for Israel, tossing two scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts. The Sox have seven more Spring Training contests before heading to Cincinnati to open the regular season on March 26.
The timing of the signing probably isn’t a coincidence. Kahnle was an Article XX(b) free agent because he finished last season on Detroit’s major league roster. Those players receive automatic opt-out chances five days before Opening Day, May 1 and June 1 if they sign a minor league contract at least 10 days before the start of the regular season. Assuming Kahnle’s deal didn’t become official until today, he won’t meet that criteria. His camp could have negotiated separate opt-out dates into the contract, but there’s a decent chance he’ll open the season at Triple-A Worcester.
The pride of Shaker High School in Latham NY
There’s only like a week left in ST.
Good AAA depth though.
Was hoping we would take a flier on a reunion with Michael Kopech. He can still be fixed!! 🤪
78th percentile extension, I see you Craig.
Maybe he can help some of the younger guys in AAA improve their changeups.
This guy’s intense. The way he used to run in from the bullpen like Forrest Gump returning a kick
I like the move.i also would sign Kopech.
Good dude, but good luck. Very small margin for error with TK. Relievers who can only throw changeups are time bombs.
Ron he’s 36 and with a 3.61 ear in his 12 year mlb career. He’s ok
Man this guy is a trip. Seemed like the Mariners hit a lot of homers off him last year.
On a minor league deal, this is worth the risk to see if last year was an aberration and he has more left in the tank. If he can get back to form and put up sub 3.00 era again it would be a huge help. If at 36, he really is done, we’re not losing much.
Nice depth move by Breslow
Increases in walks and homers and a decrease in K’s is a recipe for disaster. Thats what hit Kahnle in the second half of 2025. As the article said, batters started laying off of changeups which started off low in the zone but were balls. Then he would elevate a bit and Bam!