The Boston Red Sox bullpen is once again going to be made up almost entirely of former New York Yankees in 2026.
The Red Sox added another former Yankees reliever when they signed Tommy Kahnle to a minor-league contract Tuesday, only about a week before opening day.
Kahnle, who was a fifth-round draft pick of the Yankees in 2010, has done three tours with the Yankees, most recently when he returned to the Bronx for two seasons (2023-24). He pitched with the Detroit Tigers in 2025, going 1-5 with a 4.43 ERA and 50 strikeouts over 63 innings in 66 games.
Over his 11-season major-league career, Kahnle is 11-19 with a 3.61 ERA in 436 2/3 innings. Kahnle was 7-8 with a 3.31 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP with 251 strikeouts in 195 2/3 innings for the Yankees, spread out between 2017-20 and 2023-24.
Kahnle just pitched for Israel at the World Baseball Classic and did not allow a run in two innings.
The Red Sox Added Another Former Yankees Reliever
Maybe Boston general manager Craig Breslow got anxious his team did not have enough ex-Yankees coming out of the bullpen after left-handed Justin Wilson didn’t re-sign.
But Kahnle would be the fourth former Yankees pitcher in the Red Sox bullpen, if he makes the team. Kahnle is set to join closer Aroldis Chapman, righty Greg Weissert and set-up man Garrett Whitlock — who Boston poached from New York in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft — as ex-Yankees who now pitch in New England, though Whitlock never did pitch for the Yanks in the majors.
Throw in starter Sonny Gray, who Boston acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals this offseason, and more than one-third of the Red Sox’s pitchers spent time with the Yankees.
Of course it isn’t unique for relievers to jump from team to team, but it does seem weird for a team like the Red Sox to stock up on high-leverage arms made up almost entirely of their biggest rival’s formers. Or, as a former reliever himself, maybe Breslow feels the ex-Yankees know their former teammates’ weaknesses.
The Yankees Will Probably See Tommy Kahnle Pitching for Boston This Year
If you remember the Yankees’ 2025 AL Wild Card Series, where it seemed like every Boston reliever was a former Yankees bullpen arm, it seems like a foregone conclusion Kahnle will end up pitching on the mound at Yankee Stadium against the Bombers this season.
The upstate-New York native struggled in 2025, but he pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings against the Yankees last season. Kahnle’s devastating changeup, which he throws 86% of the time, is an asset against both lefties and right-handed hitters, since he has allowed almost an identical opposing OPS against lefties (.672) as righty batters (.640).
The Yankees have a left-hand-laden batting lineup, something they signed reserve outfielder Randal Grichuk to offset. Manager Aaron Boone always tries to avoid stacking multiple left-handed hitters in a row but may not have a choice, especially against right-handed starting pitchers.
But with his experience as a high-leverage reliever, and ability to get batters out from both sides of the plate, Kahnle will be a weapon for Boston, even though he will turn 37 in August. Manager Alex Cora may end up using Kahnle to get lefties out, since Danny Coulombe is the only left-handed reliever in Boston’s bullpen at the moment.
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