11:10AM: Kahnle has declined the outright assignment in favor of free agency, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports.
11:05AM: Right-hander Tommy Kahnle cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Worcester by the Red Sox on Friday, according to Kahnle’s MLB.com profile page. Kahnle now has the option of accepting the outright assignment or electing free agency.
Boston signed Kahnle to a minor league deal in mid-March, so there wasn’t enough time for Kahnle to make himself part of the Opening Day roster picture. The minors contract included a May 1 upward mobility clause (that was enacted before Kahnle chose to stay in the organization) and then an opt-out clause on June 1 that was made moot when the Red Sox selected the righty to the active roster.
Kahnle posted an 8.00 ERA over eight appearances and nine innings for the Sox before he was designated for assignment earlier this week. Most of the damage against Kahnle came in his last game, as he charged with four runs over one inning of work in Boston’s 8-1 loss to the Nationals on Tuesday. However, Kahnle had also allowed at least one run in each of his three previous games, and he issued more walks (six) than strikeouts (five) over his brief tenure with the Sox.
Control has often been a problem for Kahnle over his 12 Major League seasons, and he has also been prone to some ill-timed home runs. These flaws and a changeup-heavy arsenal haven’t stopped Kahnle from being a generally effective reliever for most of his career, and he had a 2.44 ERA over 96 relief innings with the Dodgers and Yankees during the 2022-24 seasons. That production dipped with the Tigers last year, as Kahnle posted a 4.43 ERA, 18.7% strikeout rate, and 11.6% walk rate across 63 frames in 2025.
Kahnle has far more than five years of MLB service time, so he’ll retain his $1.5MM guaranteed salary even if he goes to another club as a free agent. The new team will owe Kahnle only a prorated minimum salary for any time spent on a 26-man roster, and that minimum salary will be subtracted from what the Sox will owe Kahnle for the remainder of the 2026 campaign. Kahnle might use this financial flexibility to explore the open market, or he could just stick with the Sox again and await another selection at some point. It is also possible that Kahnle might become a free agent but then return to Boston on a fresh minor league deal.
