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Tommy Kahnle

Dodgers Select Jimmy Nelson

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Right-hander Jimmy Nelson has made the Dodgers’ roster, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports. With Nelson joining the team, it sent righty Tommy Kahnle, who’s recovering from Tommy John surgery, to the 60-day injured list. The Dodgers also reassigned infielder Sheldon Neuse to minor league camp.

Nelson is in his second year with the Dodgers, who signed him to a $1.25MM guarantee going into 2020, but the former Brewer didn’t pitch at all last season after undergoing back surgery. It was the latest unfortunate injury for Nelson, whose career has gone off track since what looked like a breakout effort in 2017. Nelson suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder late that year, sat out all of the next season and then mustered just 22 innings of 6.95 ERA ball in 2019.

Because of his recent misfortune, the Dodgers declined Nelson’s $2MM option for this year. They brought him back on a minor league contract after that, though, and he’ll now open the season in their bullpen. The 31-year-old earned a spot with seven innings of one-run, four-hit ball and nine strikeouts against one walk this spring.

Dodgers Sign Tommy Kahnle To Two-Year Deal

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TODAY: The Dodgers have officially announced the signing.

DECEMBER 23: The Dodgers and right-hander Tommy Kahnle are in agreement on a two-year deal that will reportedly guarantee the right-hander $4.75MM and allow him to earn an additional $750K via incentives. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal first reported the agreement, which will pay Kahnle $750K in 2021 and $3.45MM in 2022 (as reported by MLB Network’s Jon Heyman and MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, on Twitter). Kahnle is represented by the Ballengee Group.

Tommy Kahnle | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Kahnle, 31, pitched just one inning with the Yankees this season before undergoing Tommy John surgery in August. The Yankees outrighted him off the 40-man roster at season’s end, at which point Kahnle elected free agency. He has five-plus years of Major League service time, meaning he was scheduled to become a free agent following the 2021 season anyhow. Given that he’s unlikely to pitch much next season and could miss the entire year, it was only logical that the Yankees cut him from the 40-man roster.

A reunion between the Yankees and Kahnle hasn’t seemed likely with the Yanks seemingly intent on remaining south of the luxury tax threshold, as a backloaded two-year deal for Kahnle would come with some degree of luxury ramifications based on its average annual value. His two-year deal will follow a recent trend of multi-year contracts for pitchers rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. Recent examples of such contracts include Nathan Eovaldi’s two-year deal with the Rays, Michael Pineda’s (first) two-year deal with the Twins and Drew Smyly’s two-year pact with the Cubs.

In Kahnle, the Dodgers will be getting a potential impact arm to add to their late-inning mix in 2022, when Kenley Jansen’s five-year pact will have run its course. Joe Kelly’s three-year pact will also be up, though L.A. holds a $12MM club option on him for the 2022 campaign. Although Kahnle struggled through a disastrous 2018 season, he was terrific in 2016-17 and quite good in 2019 as well. He only pitched one (scoreless) inning in 2020 before going down with the injury that led to his surgery, however.

All told, Kahnle carries a 3.48 ERA and 3.05 FIP in 175 2/3 innings dating back to the 2016 season. Along the way, he’s averaged 12.4 strikeouts, 3.7 walks and 0.92 home runs per nine innings pitched. The hard-throwing Kahnle has averaged 96.8 mph on his heater in that time, which has helped contribute to an excellent 15.9 percent swinging-strike rate and a 32.8 percent opponents’ chase rate on pitches outside the strike zone.

With Jansen and Kelly perhaps both off the roster by the time Kahnle is able to pitch for the Dodgers, he’ll be joining what should be a much different-looking relief corps. Flamethrowing Brusdar Graterol will be given the opportunity to further work his way into the late-inning mix this year and could factor prominently into that group. Right-hander Dylan Floro and lefties Victor Gonzalez, Adam Kolarek and Scott Alexander are all under club control into the 2022 season as well.

Quick Hits: Arihara, Red Sox, Kahnle, Senga

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For Rangers fans curious about Kohei Arihara, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News suggests that Colby Lewis could be a decent comp for the newly-signed right-hander in terms of eating innings and a similar ability to record outs without the help of a big fastball.  The Rangers would certainly be more than pleased if Arihara were to duplicate Lewis’ numbers (4.27 ERA and an average of 166 innings per year) from 2010-16, and GM Chris Young told Grant and other reporters that the team was hopes Arihara can “stabilize the rotation” in terms of covering innings, at the very least.

“Durability is a highlight,” Young said.  “We think there is upside here, in terms of his curiosity and his willingness to learn and improve, but the durability component is a very appealing aspect of this signing….We’re hopeful for 150-plus [innings].”

More from around baseball…

  • The Red Sox were known to be the runners-up in the race to sign Tommy Kahnle, and The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham reports that the Sox were open to making the kind of two-year contract that Kahnle received from the Dodgers as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.  After ducking under the luxury tax threshold in 2020 and resetting their tax penalty limit, the Red Sox are now “exploring other creative ways to use their payroll flexibility,” Abraham writes, suggesting that the Sox could look to acquire prospects from another team by also agreeing to take a big contract off that team’s books.
  • Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks right-hander Kodai Senga is no closer to making his desired move to Major League Baseball, as per a Kyodo News report.  The Hawks are the only NPB team that has never posted a player to the majors, and according to general manager Sugihiko Mikasa, “I can’t say there is any big change to our policy” coming in the near future.  Senga, who turns 28 in January, has established himself as one of Japan’s top pitchers, with a 2.69 ERA, 2.98 K/BB rate, and 10.5 K/9 over 860 1/3 career innings for the Hawks from 2012-20.  Senga can be a full free agent after the 2022 season, and while the Hawks are working out a multi-year contract extension, it doesn’t seem like Senga would accept a deal beyond 2022 given his longstanding interest in North America.

Red Sox Notes: Semien, Scott, Kahnle, Andriese

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The Red Sox “like” free-agent shortstop Marcus Semien, though they’re not sure how much money it would take to sign him, Peter Gammons of The Athletic tweets. Semien is one of the top shortstops on the open market, but the Red Sox already have their answer there in Xander Bogaerts. They’re also set at third base with Rafael Devers. The club does have questions at second base, but Semien hasn’t lined up there since 2014 as a member of the White Sox. The 30-year-old spent the previous six seasons with the Athletics and excelled at times, especially in 2019. He has a connection to the Red Sox in former college roommate Paul Toboni, the team’s scouting director, Gammons notes.

More out of Boston:

  • The Red Sox lost assistant general manager Zack Scott to the Mets, who hired him as their assistant GM and senior vice president Wednesday. The move came with a condition, though. The Mets will not be permitted to hire anyone else from the Red Sox’s front office either this offseason or next, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports. Presumably, New York’s heavy lifting in the front office is done, with Scott joining newly-hired team president Sandy Alderson and GM Jared Porter in Queens. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to see Boston guard against other potential front office departures.
  • Tommy Kahnle signed with the Dodgers on a two-year deal this afternoon. The Red Sox, though, were also in on the free agent reliever, reports Robert Murray of Fansided (Twitter link). Boston made a “strong offer” to Kahnle and finished second for his services, adds Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. The right-hander was something of a unique case on the open market; having undergone Tommy John surgery this past August, Kahnle will likely miss all of the 2021 season but is an interesting upside play for the following year. If Boston’s looking for more immediate right-handed bullpen help, there’s no shortage of options available in free agency.
  • The Red Sox did sign one potential bullpen piece today, bringing in Matt Andriese on a one-year deal with a 2022 club option. The veteran has been used almost exclusively as a reliever over the past two seasons, although he’ll be given an opportunity to stake a claim to a rotation job next spring, he told reporters (including Cotillo). Andriese expressed an openness to either role and noted that he expects the Red Sox front office to continue to explore starting pitching additions this offseason. The right-hander broke into the majors as a true swing piece with the Rays, starting 44 of his 72 appearances in Tampa Bay from 2015-17.

Free Agent Notes: Kendrick, Ozuna, ChiSox, Braves, Kahnle

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Infielder Howie Kendrick has been noncommittal about his long-term playing status, suggesting in September he could step away from the game after 15 MLB seasons.  However, Kendrick seemed to hint in an Instagram post this afternoon (h/t to Britt Ghiroli of the Athletic) that he is planning to continue his career, along with firmly indicating that he will continue his charitable endeavors off the field.  “What a season!  Proud to partner with Bank of America and Boys & Girls Clubs of America to help fuel rallies all season long and make a difference for kids in our communities.  See you all next year,” Kendrick wrote.

The Nationals declined their 2021 club option on Kendrick’s services, making the former World Series hero a free agent.  Kendrick only hit .275/.320/.385 with two home runs across 100 plate appearances in 2020, but he’s just a year removed from an elite season at the plate.  A return to Washington wouldn’t seem to be out of the question, and surely other teams would have some interest in signing a veteran with Kendrick’s track record.

More on some other available players…

  • Marcell Ozuna’s free agent market is explored by an MLB.com panel of Mark Bowman, Alyson Footer, Scott Merkin, and Jesse Sanchez, with a particular focus on the White Sox (Merkin’s team on the beat) and Braves (Ozuna’s most recent team, and Bowman’s beat).  The White Sox had some interest in Ozuna last winter but now might be looking for more of a full-time outfielder, Merkin says, since star prospect Andrew Vaughn is expected to step into the first base/DH mix alongside Jose Abreu at some point in 2021.  Since Ozuna profiles more as a DH over the long term, the Braves might have some hesitation over bringing Ozuna back since it isn’t yet known if the National League will adopt the designated hitter for 2021.  However, Bowman also notes that Ozuna quickly became a valued figure in Atlanta due to both his production and clubhouse presence.  Early reports have already suggested that the Braves are interested in re-signing Ozuna, but at least nine other clubs have also inquired about his services.
  • Tommy Kahnle is weighing multiple two-year offers, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter).  Kahnle underwent Tommy John surgery in early August, though it isn’t uncommon for recent TJ patients to still land multi-year deals on the open market.  In most of these cases, the player receives the bulk of the salary in the second year of the contract and a minimum salary in the first year, with the understanding that most or all of year one will be spent recovering from the surgery.  Kahnle, Heyman says, is hoping to return by the end of the 2021 season, which would be on the short end of the usual 12-15 month recovery timeline for Tommy John patients.

Tommy Kahnle Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander Tommy Kahnle declined an outright assignment from the Yankees and instead chose to become a free agent, the team announced.

After undergoing Tommy John surgery in August, Kahnle will miss most and quite possibly all of the 2021 season, making him a logical non-tender candidate.  Headed into his third trip through the arbitration process, Kahnle was projected to earn $2.7MM, or a minimal raise on his $2.65MM salary from 2020 given that he pitched a single inning this season.

In electing to become a free agent, Kahnle will now look for a change of scenery in a new organization and see if he can land a two-year commitment — as per the usual model for TJ recovery cases, Kahnle would earn a minimum salary in the first year of the contract and then a larger salary in the second year when he is expected to actually pitch.  Finding such a contract in this troubled free agent market could be a challenge, though Kahnle has delivered enough results on the mound that a club might be convinced to take what should still be a relatively inexpensive plunge.

The 31-year-old righty has a 3.82 ERA, 2.61 K/BB rate, 46.6% grounder rate, and 11.2 K/9 over 227 2/3 career relief innings with the Yankees, White Sox, and Rockies.  Though injuries plagued him in 2018, Kahnle has shown that he can be a bullpen workhorse when healthy, tossing 62 2/3 innings over 69 appearances in 2017 and 61 1/3 innings over 72 appearances in 2019.

Tommy Kahnle Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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Aug. 5: Kahnle’s surgery was performed yesterday, Heyman tweets.

July 31: Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced Friday that right-handed reliever Tommy Kahnle will undergo Tommy John surgery, Marly Rivera of ESPN reports.

This isn’t surprising news, as MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported just minutes ago that Kahnle was probably going in this direction. Still, the fact that it’s now official is unfortunate for him and the Yankees. Kahnle, 30, has been an important part of their bullpen since they acquired him from the White Sox in a 2017 blockbuster trade. Since rejoining the Yankees, who selected him in the fifth round of the 2010 draft, Kahnle has logged a 4.01 ERA/3.23 FIP with 12.58 K/9, 3.69 BB/9 and a 44.8 percent groundball rate over 112 1/3 innings.

While Kahnle won’t be easily replaceable for the Yankees, the World Series contenders are well-equipped to soldier on without him. After all, the team also has Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton, Adam Ottavino and Chad Green as other prominent late-game arms.

Kahnle’s season-ending injury takes a quality option away, though, and now it’s in question whether he will pitch for the Yankees again. Considering the timing of this surgery, Kahnle may not be ready to return until very late next season or at the beginning of 2022. In the meantime, the Yankees will have to decide whether to tender him a contract for his final arbitration-eligible season in 2021. He’s on a prorated $2.65MM salary this year, and that number should stay the same next season.

Yankees Place Tommy Kahnle On IL, Recall Jordan Montgomery

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9:20pm: Kahnle will “likely” require Tommy John surgery, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets.

5:03pm: The Yankees have announced a pair of roster moves in advance of tonight’s game. Righty Tommy Kahnle was moved to the 10-day injured list with what the team termed a “right ulnar collateral ligament injury.” He’ll be replaced by southpaw Jordan Montgomery.

That’s a worrisome addition to earlier news on Kahnle, who had previously been described as suffering from forearm tightness. The reliever was slated to undergo an MRI and visit team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad.

Soon to turn 31, Kahnle had seemed primed to occupy an important role in the Yanks’ pen in 2020. After a rough 2018 showing, he bounced back last season by throwing 61 1/3 innings of 3.67 ERA ball with 12.9 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9.

Montgomery is moving in precisely the other direction. The 27-year-old has been limited to eight appearances over the past two seasons owing to Tommy John surgery. He’s now hoping to regain the promising trajectory he was on before the elbow woes arose.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: American League

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Entering the day, there were more than 150 players on the clock to exchange arbitration figures with their respective teams prior to a noon ET deadline. As one would expect, there’ll be an utter landslide of arbitration agreements in advance of that deadline. We already ran through some key facts and reminders on the arbitration process earlier this morning for those who are unfamiliar or simply need a refresher on one of MLB’s most complex idiosyncrasies, which will hopefully clear up many questions readers might have.

We’ll track the majority of the American League’s settlements in this post and split off a separate one for NL settlements as well. Note that all projections referenced come courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:

  • Newly acquired Angels righty Dylan Bundy receives a $5MM salary, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter links). He had projected at a $5.7MM price tag. Teammate Hansel Robles gets $3.85MM, per Heyman, just shy of his $4MM projection.
  • The Yankees have worked out deals with all of their eligible players. The team has a hefty $8.5MM pact with Aaron Judge, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Backstop Gary Sanchez settled for $5MM, per Feinsand (via Twitter). The New York org will pay righty Luis Cessa $895K and Jonathan Holder $750K, Murray reports (Twitter links). Fellow reliever Tommy Kahnle will earn $2.65MM, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). And star lefty James Paxton has settled at $12.5MM, Heyman adds via Twitter. Chad Green and Jordan Montgomery have also agreed to terms, the former at $1.275MM and the latter at $805K, per Heyman (Twitter links).
  • The Twins announced that they struck deals with Trevor May, Taylor Rogers, Eddie Rosario and Byron Buxton. Jon Heyman of MLB Network followed up with salary terms (all links to Twitter). May earns $2,205,000; Rogers takes home $4.45MM; Rosario lands at $7.75MM; and Buxton receives $3.075MM. While the first and last of those land rather close to the projected amount, Rogers got $550K more and Rosario got $1.15MM less than the calculators predicted.
  • Shortstop Carlos Correa settled with the Astros for $8MM, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (via Twitter). Righty Brad Peacock lands at a $3.9MM salary, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). The former went for more than his $7.4MM projection, while the latter ended up shy of the $4.6MM mark produced by the computers. The ’Stros also have agreed with closer Roberto Osuna as well, per an announcement. It’s a $10MM deal, slotting in just $200K shy of his projection, per Rome (via Twitter).
  • The Orioles have a deal with outfielder/first baseman Trey Mancini, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. It’s for $4.75MM, per Dan Connolly of The Athletic (via Twitter), well south of the $5.7MM projection.
  • Outfielder Jorge Soler has agreed to a $7.3MM deal with the Royals, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets. That’s well off of the $11.2MM that MLBTR’s model projected, though it is likely that the cause of the gulf lies in the interpretation of the correct baseline to start from in building Soler’s salary. He’s in the 4+ service class but had been playing on the original deal he signed out of Cuba.
  • The Tigers have a deal in place with southpaw Matthew Boyd, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter). It’ll pay him $5.3MM, per Chris McCosky of the Detroit News (Twitter link). That falls comfortably below the $6.4MM, suggesting that Boyd’s camp was concerned with the way his suboptimal ERA would play in the arb process. Fellow lefty starter Daniel Norris will earn $2.96MM, McCosky tweets.

Earlier Settlements

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Yankees Close To Dealing Sonny Gray

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5:13pm: “A few teams” remain in talks with the Yanks, per Jack Curry of  the YES Network (via Twitter).

3:49pm: The Athletics and Padres are involved, while the Reds do not appear to be, according to SNY.tv’s Andy Martino (Twitter link).

Heyman hears that the Giants have entered the picture (Twitter link). Contrary to Martino, he also suggests that the organizations previously rumored to have interest have dropped back — including the A’s and Pads as well as all of the other ballclubs listed below.

3:11pm: David O’Brien of The Athletic tweets that any trade of Gray won’t include the Braves. There have been no recent discussions between New York and Atlanta, per O’Brien.

1:51pm: Heyman now tweets that the Yankees are “close” to trading Gray. He adds that New York is receiving interest in right-handed relievers Jonathan Holder and Tommy Kahnle, as well.

1:45pm: The Yankees, who reportedly reached an agreement with Adam Ottavino this afternoon, are “working hard” on a trade of right-hander Sonny Gray, per Fancred’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The team’s effort “appears to be getting more serious,” Heyman writes, noting that previous suitors for Gray have included the Reds, Giants, Brewers, Padres, Athletics, Braves and Mariners. It’s not clear that any of those clubs are at the forefront of New York’s current efforts to move Gray, though.

Gray and the Yankees agreed to a $7.5MM salary for the 2019 season recently. While GM Brian Cashman had previously suggested that the Yanks could hold Gray into the 2019 season despite voicing a preference to find a change of scenery for Gray, that possibility became less likely when CC Sabathia was cleared to resume baseball activities following a December angioplasty procedure. With Sabathia back on track for the ’19 season, Gray once again became a more superfluous piece for the Yanks.

A change of scenery for Gray, 29, only makes sense after he struggled profusely with the Yankees in 2018 — particularly when pitching at Yankee Stadium. Gray posted a ghastly 6.98 ERA at home in 2018 compared to a 3.17 ERA on the road, and while there’s surely more at play in those splits than the surface-level numbers exhibit, the contrast between the two numbers is unequivocally jarring.

Teams interested in Gray are undoubtedly encouraged by the fact that his velocity remained consistent with its previous levels (93.8 mph average fastball), that his swinging-strike rate remained north of 10 percent and that his ground-ball tendencies (50 percent) remained well above league average. Gray actually allowed home runs at his lowest rate since 2015, as well (0.97 HR/9; 13.3% HR/FB) despite pitching more than 40 percent of his innings at the homer-friendly Yankee Stadium.

The righty isn’t far removed from one of the American League’s better arms — he was an in-demand trade commodity at the 2017 deadline when the Yankees acquired him — and he entered the 2018 season with a lifetime 3.45 ERA, 3.67 FIP, 7.8 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 770 1/3 innings. Prior to 2018, he’d only had one season with an ERA higher than 3.55 — an injury-marred 2017 season — and had even finished third in 2015 American League Cy Young voting. While Gray surely has a long way to go to get back to that level, he’s a quality buy-low option whose $7.5MM salary should be affordable for just about any team in need of pitching help.

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