One of the Boston Red Sox's final moves of the 2025-26 offseason was signing veteran reliever Tommy Kahnle to a minor league deal. His contract contained an assignment clause, which Kahnle triggered — if any team wanted to offer him a spot on their major league roster, the Red Sox could counter by promoting him.
No team approached Kahnle about a roster spot, so he opted to stick with the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox even after triggering his assignment clause. He's been on a roll with the WooSox so far this season.
Kahnle has posted a 1.88 ERA with 14 strikeouts over 14.1 innings in the minor leagues. He hasn't allowed a run since April 17, when he allowed two in a single appearance.
Given his record in Worcester, Kahnle could be in the big leagues with the Red Sox now. Boston needs all the pitching help it can get to win games while its offense has struggled severely and Kahnle could be quite a boost to the bullpen. The Red Sox are coming up on another key deadline, a June 1 opt-out clause that Kahnle could use to test free agency again if he isn't promoted by then.
A few things could be keeping the Red Sox from promoting Tommy Kahnle
But promoting Kahnle could be easier said than done. The Sox's bullpen is already packed with righties, including Garrett Whitlock, Justin Slaten, Greg Weissert, Zack Kelly and Ryan Watson. Weissert and Kelly have minor league options, so they can be sent to Triple-A with no consequence to bring Kahnle up.
Watson, on the other hand, can't be moved as easily. Despite his early struggles in the bullpen (5.86 ERA over a Red Sox bullpen-leading 27.2 frames), Boston can't option Watson because he was a Rule 5 Draft selection. The A's selected him from the San Francisco Giants, then traded him to the Sox — he would have to be returned to San Francisco if the Red Sox wanted to drop him.
Boston also may not be ready to call Kahnle up. While he's limited runs well, he's given up a lot of hits and he's walking batters at a rather high clip. The 36-year-old has let up 13 hits and walked eight batters in 14.1 innings, which works out to a 1.47 WHIP. He hasn't had such a high WHIP in the major leagues since he posted a 2.00 figure with the New York Yankees in 2020.
If the Red Sox eventually decide to table the Watson experiment or if another one of their righty relievers goes down with an injury (Johan Oviedo is on the 60-day injured list), Kahnle could be the one they call. His body of work in Worcester so far suggests he's ready — or close to it — for a return to the major leagues, but the Red Sox only have until June 1 to make the call.
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