May 1: Kahnle has triggered the assignment clause, reports Ari Alexander of 7 News Boston. The Sox will know by Sunday whether another team is willing to carry him on the MLB roster.
April 30: Veteran right-hander Tommy Kahnle, currently pitching with the Red Sox’ Triple-A affiliate, has an upward mobility clause in his deal that he can trigger tomorrow, writes Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. The clause was reported at the time of Kahnle’s signing in Boston, but it still bears mentioning with the seasoned setup man pitching well in the upper minors at present.
If triggered, an upward mobility clause would push the Sox to make Kahnle available to all 29 other clubs. If any other club would put him on its major league roster, the Red Sox would either have to select Kahnle to their own 40-man roster or, if they’re not willing to do so, allow him to depart to an organization that would put him in the major league bullpen. Such clauses are common in minor league deals for veteran players.
Through the season’s first month, Kahnle has done a nice job trying to force Boston’s hand. The 36-year-old has pitched 8 1/3 innings out of the Worcester bullpen, allowing three earned runs (3.24 ERA) on eight hits and three walks. He’s fanned eight of the 36 batters he’s faced (22.2%), hasn’t allowed a home run and has done a decent job avoiding too much hard contact (88.3 mph average exit velocity, no barrels, 41.7% hard-hit rate).
Kahnle’s 92.7 mph average fastball would be the lowest of his career, although through the first month of the 2025 season in Detroit, he wasn’t much higher (93.1 mph). He sat 93.6 mph the rest of the way. It seems reasonable to expect Kahnle’s heater to gain a bit of life as he continues to build up this season, but the four-seamer is a secondary pitch for him anyhow; Kahnle is perhaps the foremost changeup specialist in the game. This season’s 59.5% usage rate on his changeup is actually a stark decrease relative to recent seasons. From 2022-25, Kahnle threw 79% changeups against just 18.7% fastballs with a very, very occasional slider (2.4%) mixed in to throw some hitters off balance.
Although he’s coming off a lackluster season with the Tigers — hence the minor league deal — Kahnle has a lengthy track record of success in the majors. He’s been hurt more frequently than he or the teams for which he’s pitched would prefer, but from 2016-24, the right-hander logged a combined 3.11 ERA, 31.1% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate in 271 2/3 innings between the White Sox, Yankees and Dodgers.
It’s not clear whether the Red Sox would be amenable to adding Kahnle to the big league bullpen. Relief pitching has been a strength in an otherwise disappointing season for Boston. Sox relievers have combined for a 3.67 ERA that ranks eighth-best in the majors. The only Red Sox relievers who can be optioned are Greg Weissert, Zack Kelly and Tyler Samaniego. Plugging Kahnle into the ‘pen would give the Red Sox a sixth reliever who cannot be sent down without being exposed to waivers.
The decision will belong to chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, but interim skipper Chad Tracy — who managed Kahnle for several weeks to begin the season — sounded amenable to the idea. Asked by Smith just yesterday whether Kahnle could help the big league club, Tracy replied:
“For a veteran of his caliber that’s been around, yes, he can help out. He’s been around the big leagues for a really long time. He knows how to pitch. He’s been here, he’s pitched in the playoffs. So absolutely can help out.”
If not the Red Sox, there seems to be a decent chance Kahnle could draw the interest of another club. Each of the Nationals, Cardinals, Twins, Royals, Angels and Astros have received a combined ERA of 5.00 or worse from their bullpen so far in 2026. The Phillies, Astros, Cubs and Marlins all have their closers on the injured list. Chicago’s Daniel Palencia is expected to return soon, but he’s one of six Cubs relievers on the shelf.
Can’t be worse than Weissert or Watson, seems like a no brainer.
Exactly what I was about to say!
Why is Watson even on the team? Didn’t he stink up the place in Florida this spring?
He’s a rule 5 pick so they have to either hang on to him or give him back to the Giants. I’m ready to give up on him but the Sox do not seem to be.
If the season doesn’t turn around, might as well hang on to the Rule 5 guy.
If he starts showing some signs of life, maybe. If he continues to be so horrendous I’d rather see if we have anything at AAA. Relief pitching depth was supposed to be an organizational strength, so there should be somebody on the 40 man who can give us better innings than he has been.
It’s kinda wild that Boston is still only 3.5 gb from WC spot (despite the worst start in team history), while the Mets are already 8 games out!
Only 3 teams above .500 in the AL through 30+ games seems a bit unusual.
Dirty – Bernardino has a 0.71 ERA and 1.026 WHIP.
And that’s with him pitching half his games in Coors Field.
Just sayin’ …..
Yup. Have said before and I’ll say again, I could live with him being traded away because doing so in November, the natural assumption was that they were going to get someone better. Then they just didn’t. That has proven to be a pretty dumb move so far!
dirty – And Coulombe is getting paid more than Bernardino!
Look, as long as it’s a lost season for the Bostons, I’ll be happy. Rule 5er, no Ruler 5er, I’m cool with it.
The question is: Did they ask for Coulombe A or Coulombe B?
Toke – There’s been a ton of interleague games played, and the NL has kicked the AL’s butt.
Carmen, Watson is there to answer the bullpen phone when they need him to come quickly.
Oh, he can be worse, and he is… he was completely shot by mid-season last year… and then, inexplicably with Hunter still in the pen, Hinch brought him into the biggest game of the season and he promptly blew the game. He is completely washed and you’ll be lucky if any other team takes him because he has absolutely nothing left.
I’m okay with carrying a Rule 5 guy to pitch bulk trash innings. There’s been plenty of already-lost games for him to pitch in.
Still not worth keeping over a decent veteran arm who will certainly get picked up elsewhere.. And it looks like Bello is begging for the bulk trash role next.
Weissert has options (as does Bello, lol), so they could keep Watson around and still promote Kahnle if they want.
It’s true! Last night, I saw him dressed as the rich guy from the monopoly game, he even had a monocle. He’s very utterly mobile now.!!!
Might not be a bad guy for Hoyer to take a chance on. Certainly can’t be worse than Webb or Maton. Maybe as bad but not worse.
LoL. Boston needs more than him to save their season.
What if they get Crick, too?
Additionally, the news of Eaton being brought up and sent back down in 1 day, reinforces the stigma that this dysfunctional organization is in free fall.
Trading Devers for nothing more than a salary dump, and not using the salary windfall to acquire Pete Alonso and retaining Bregman is malfeasance.
I did not like the trade for the Red Sox at the time, but Devers looks cooked right now.
He looks atrocious at the moment but I don’t know if it’s time to write him off yet. I haven’t watched the Giants so maybe someone who has seen him themselves can add or correct me if I’m wrong, but looking at his plate discipline and Statcast metrics I’m not seeing any drastic changes to swing or contact rates that would suggest he should be hitting as poorly as he is. His chase rate is actually much lower than normal, so it’s not like he’s swinging and missing at a ton of junk. He’s just not walking at all because pitchers don’t need to be afraid of throwing him strikes right now. His contact rate is a little lower but not so much so to suggest a nosedive in his “baseball card” stats. His bat speed is very close to what it was last year and his attack angle hasn’t changed. His “square up” rate is normal. So to me I feel like that must mean there is something off with his mechanics or timing. As brutal as he is at the moment, I believe he will figure that out. He has been standing deeper in the box compared to past seasons and making less contact at the front of the plate, maybe that is part of the problem.
If we’re in the same spot a month from now, then I think it’s time to start worrying.
Ah yes, one month of a season that’s and bad he’s cooked. Let’s just ignore how good of a hitter he has been for his entire career. 140 OPS+ last season. But yep, just write him off.
Cappy1414:
“Additionally, the news of Eaton being brought up and sent back down in 1 day, reinforces the stigma that this dysfunctional organization is in free fall.”
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Nothing wrong with bringing up an extra position player in between Crochet going on the IL and bringing up his replacement. It’s actually a smart move and Eaton earned himself some extra money.
“Trading Devers for nothing more than a salary dump, and not using the salary windfall to acquire Pete Alonso and retaining Bregman is malfeasance.”
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They signed Ranger Suarez. Have you seen him pitch? Bregman’s OPS is .721 and Alonso’s OPS is .660. They would not be helping the team much and both signed HUGE 5 year contracts. Looks like a smart move to avoid that.
If saving money is the priority over fielding the best possible team, then well done sir!
The fans aren’t stupid; we went from Devers to Bregman to Durbin/IKF at 3rd base. Durbin ops .524 IKF ops .499 but we’re saving money.
Last season’s team struggled as well but they found ways to win and advance to the playoffs. Now that Abreu has cooled off this team struggles to advance to first base.
Breslow mishandled this team. There is no team leader (Story strikes out every third at bat) there is no chemistry, they’re all hanging their heads, and they now know, winning isn’t the priority anymore, paying them as little as possible is.
Cappy1414:
“If saving money is the priority over fielding the best possible team, then well done sir!”
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No one said saving money is a goal. However, avoiding bad expensive deals is certainly a goal. There is a difference. They are not the same goal. The Trevor Story contract (6 years/$140M) is a good example of a bad expensive deal that holds the team back from spending on good players. The Bregman contract (5 years/$140M) and the Alonso contract (5 years/$155M) are a high risk of turning out the same way as Story’s contract. So, avoiding high risk expensive deals for older players is certainly a success.
“Devers to Bregman to Durbin/IKF at 3rd base. Durbin ops .524 IKF ops .499 but we’re saving money.
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I’ve already discussed Bregman. Devers’ OPS is .537 which is about the same as Durbin, but Devers would be costing the Red Sox $31M this year and for the next 7 years. They dumped most of Devers huge horrible contract which is a huge success. This contract will not hold them back in the future.
“winning isn’t the priority anymore, paying them as little as possible is”
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The Red Sox CBT payroll is $268.5M. This is $24.5M above the first luxury tax threshold of $244M and $4.8M above the second luxury tax threshold of $264M. Their estimated luxury tax bill at the end of the season is $7.9M for a total of $276.4M spent. Do you know anything about this? They also just spent $14M to fire Cora and another maybe $1-2M to fire the 5 coaches. That is not something a cheap team would do. They are certainly not trying to spend as little as possible.
Allin – Agreed 100%! ALL the big bat options the Red Sox could have signed have gotten off to miserable starts:Alonso, Bregman, Bo, Scharwarber… Those contracts will not age well, and then Red Sox fans will complain why they ever signed them. Contraras is hitting well at 1B AND playing great defense.
There should be some regression to the mean as many of the starters are well below their typical career stats.
MLB: Great to see you. Haven’t seen you in a while.
Allin – Medical stuff. Glad to be back. Hope all is well with you.
He’s on an MLB roster tomorrow.
If you want to lose then sign him. Did nothing good in Detroit last year as the season went on. Very hittable pitcher and not recommended to add to your roster.
The cousins in Boston are at each other’s throats again, having differing impressions and conflicting exasperations regarding their erstwhile ballclub.
Incredible that he has 436 career innings, but has 10 years service time.
More games than innings which is weird for a righty.
“He’s been here, he’s pitched in the playoffs. So absolutely can help out.”
Which team is he going to be helping out in the playoffs? Certainly not the Red Sox.
Not sure why we got rid of B.Bernardino. for the most part he was a fairly effective lefty reliever. The return ( Ward) was not satisfactory.. this was a move I did not understand.
Breslow wanted to be the only lefty reliever in the organization? Yeah, it didn’t make sense.
Mets