Today is a sad day for Yankee fans, fan favorite relief pitcher Tommy Kahnle signed a 2 year deal with the reigning World Series Champions Los Angeles Dodgers. Kahnle was acquired by the Yankees at the 2017 trade deadline in the same deal that sent David Robertson and Todd Frazier to the Yankees. Kahnle quickly became a fan favorite because of his contagious energy on the mound, his upper 90’s fastball and of course his tight pants which earned him the nickname Tommy Tightpants. Kahnle was very interactive with the Yankees fan base online and on Twitch, he also represented the Yankees in the MLB The Show 20 Players Tournament.
When Kahnle came over in the trade in 2017 he was very impressive out of the bullpen and played a huge role in the Yankees playoff run which ended in Game 7 of the ALCS (sigh). In 2018 Kahnle’s velocity was down due to injury and it resulted in a disappointing lost season in the minors. In 2019 Kahnle had a bounce back year where he was solid out of the pen striking out 88 batters in 61 innings. Kahnle featured a devastating changeup to compliment his 98 mph heater. In 2020 Tommy Kahnle was electric out of the pen in his first appearance of the year, recording 3 strikeouts to escape a bases loaded jam that propelled the Yankees to a win over the Nationals. Unfortunately that was Kahnle’s only appearance in 2020, Kahnle tore his UCL which required Tommy John surgery. The loss of Kahnle in the bullpen hurt the Yankees immensely, they never filled the hole in their bullpen and it hurt them in the postseason.
It was pretty well known that the Yankees were not going to re-sign Kahnle because he will miss the 2021 season and the Yankees didn’t want to pay him to rehab for the year. Kahnle will join a dominant Dodger bullpen in 2022 and I’m very excited to see Tommy on the bump again.
PS: Apparently the Red Sox were the next team in line to sign Kahnle so yeah, suck it Boston.
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