Tigers nearing contract with former Yankees reliever after resurgent 2024

The Tigers offered some relief to exasperated fans, fearful that Detroit's only additions this offseason would be a recently-broken starter (Alex Cobb) and a flailing second baseman (Gleyber Torres) on two prove-it deals, when reports that they were interested in veteran relievers with closing experience started to circulate.

Among those names were Carlos Estévez, Kenley Jansen, and David Robertson, any of whom would've made fine additions to the Detroit Tigers bullpen (even with Jason Foley and Will Vest already on the roster and more than capable of taking over as closer). None of them are Alex Bregman, who seems a more distant possibility for Detroit every day, but at least it'd be something.

On Wednesday, Jon Heyman reported that the Tigers might, in fact, be getting that extra something. Former New York Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle (who was not on the initial list of relievers the Tigers were interested in) is close to a reunion with New York teammate Gleyber Torres in Detroit.

Kahnle had a nice season last year in the Bronx, pitching 42 2/3 innings in relief (and finishing eight games) for a 2.11 ERA.

Tigers on the verge of signing former Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle to add veteran bullpen presence

With ten seasons of major league experience under his belt, Kahnle has never really been the closer for any of the four teams he's pitched for, so it's more likely than not that he'll slot right into the Tigers bullpen as a everyman, which is how they like to use their relievers anyway. Hopefully, the rotation will be full and healthy enough for the Tigers not to have to go back to their pitching chaos strategy for half a season — pitching chaos was fun, but not a sustainable solution — but we should still expect AJ Hinch to deploy relievers every which way to keep opposing offenses on their toes.

Kahnle has had two fine seasons with the Yankees, pitching 83 ⅓ innings to a 2.38 ERA, after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020, missing the entirety of the 2021 season, and then pitching just over 12 innings for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022 before returning to New York on a two-year deal.

Foley, Vest, Beau Brieske, and Tyler Holton all emerged as solid, versatile arms in 2024, but now the Tigers have a veteran in Kahnle to add some reassurance to a clearly talented but still relatively untested bullpen.

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