The Red Sox have re-signed right-hander Tommy Kahnle to a minor league deal, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. He has been assigned to Triple-A Worcester. Meanwhile, catcher Matt Thaiss has been released from his minor league deal.
Kahnle signed a minor league deal with the Sox in March. He performed well for Worcester, putting up a 1.40 earned run average through the end of May. He got a bit of help from an 84.6% strand rate while walking 13.3% of batters faced, but he also punched out 25.3% of opponents and induced grounders on 47.9% of balls in play.
He had an opt-out in that deal for June 1, so the Sox called him up and added him to the big league roster. He wasn’t able to carry his results up with him. He made eight appearances, logging nine innings, allowing eight earned runs via 12 hits and six walks while striking out five. He was designated for assignment at the end of June, cleared waivers and elected free agency.
Though he wasn’t great in his short stint in the majors this year, there’s no harm in the Sox bringing him back as non-roster depth. He was pitching decently with Worcester earlier and has a track record of big league success, with a 3.70 ERA in 445 2/3 innings. The changeup specialist had a mediocre 4.43 ERA with the Tigers in 2025, which is why he had to settle for a minor league deal this year, but had a 2.11 ERA with the Yankees in 2024.
Thaiss also signed a minor league deal with the Sox ahead of the season. He has been with Worcester all year but hasn’t been performing especially well, with a .201/.314/.313 line in 170 plate appearances. It seems the Sox have decided they can live without Thaiss in their depth mix. They have Carlos Narváez and Connor Wong on the big league roster. Mickey Gasper is on optional assignment. Andrew Knizner and Jason Delay are around as non-roster depth.
That will leave Thaiss looking for a new job. A former first-round pick of the Angels in 2016, he crushed the minors on his way up but hasn’t been great at the major league level. He has a .210/.320/.332 line in 961 big league plate appearances. That’s not awful offense for a catcher but Thaiss isn’t considered a great defender and needs to hit more than that to be serviceable.
Photo courtesy of Jaiden Tripi, Imagn Images
