Yankees make the right move with Tommy Kahnle
Tommy Kahnle was an important reliever for the Yankees last season, but his poor performance this year made sending him down the sensible choice.
Sending a player down to the minors is never fun. That doesn’t mean it isn’t the right decision in some instances. The Yankees absolutely made the right call in sending reliever Tommy Kahnle down to the minors today. He desperately needs some time and space to rebuild his confidence and repair his mechanics.
Last year, Kahnle was an integral part of the Yankees bullpen. He posted an ERA of just 2.70 after coming over from the White Sox. That wasn’t a serious departure from his performance in Chicago either. His ERA there was 2.50 in close to the same number of appearances.
This season Kahnle’s ability to get on the mount for the Yankees has been severely hampered due to injury. A shoulder ailment put him on the 10-day DL back in April. Unfortunately, the time on the shelf didn’t help him find his groove. His numbers to date are pretty ugly. An ERA of 7.00 in just nine innings is not the sort of production Aaron Boone needs out of Kahnle.
Roster Moves: Following Game 1 of today’s doubleheader, the Yankees returned from rehab and reinstated RHP Adam Warren (#43) from the 10-day disabled list and optioned RHP Tommy Kahnle to @swbrailriders.
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) June 4, 2018
That’s why the team’s decision to send him down to the minors today was right on the money. The return of Adam Warren to full health gives the Yankees another arm to call-up in his place. Kahnle can certainly use some time in the minors to work on his mechanics and confidence.
Continuing to trot him out at the big league level was only going to bring more and more scrutiny on the talented righty. That sort of negative attention could have destroyed his ability to handle the pressure of pitching for the Yankees completely.
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Now, the challenge for Kahnle will be going down to Scranton and figuring out what’s wrong with his stuff. He’ll need to post excellent numbers before the Yankees are going to bring him back up to the Bronx. Kahnle may not come back the majors anytime soon, but sending him to the minors gives him a chance to save his Yankees career.