Recently DFAd veteran Red Sox’ reliever would be an intriguing stopgap for Brewers’ bullpen

The Milwaukee Brewers don't exactly need another middle-relief option. Jared Koenig is back, Garrett Stallings has been called up to replace Robert Gasser, and Aaron Ashby's rubber arm is deployable at literally any time.

Still, the struggles of Joel Kuhnel since his exciting debut are hard to overlook; the 31-year-old right-hander has recorded a 6.23 ERA and 10.03 FIP with the Crew, thereby "earning" -0.6 fWAR in 8.2 innings of work. The experiment isn't working, and since he's out of minor-league options, it may be best for the Brewers to seek other answers before committing to trading for a reliever at the deadline.

Thus, I present you with Tommy Kahnle, a fellow veteran bullpen arm also struggling through a difficult 2026 season. Whereas Kuhnel excels with velocity and a deep bag of secondaries, Kahnle is a changeup first, second, and third kind of guy. That profile has yielded success for him in the past, but it's also susceptible to the blow-up outings he recently had with the Boston Red Sox.

Those struggles in Beantown got Kahnle kicked out of town, and he'll almost certainly clear waivers following his designation for assignment. As a no-risk, maybe-some-upside option in free agency, should the Brewers try to work their magic with yet another former Red Sox pitcher?

Tommy Kahnle could probably thrive with a better coaching staff, like the one in Milwaukee

Kahnle more or less forced his way onto the Red Sox's roster in June by way of an upward mobility clause, though he did earn the opportunity with his performance in Triple-A Worcester (1.40 ERA, 3.25 FIP). Unfortunately, his success quickly dissipated upon returning to the majors; in just eight appearances (nine innings) in Boston, the 36-year-old logged an 8.00 ERA and 6.89 FIP.

On one hand, that FIP is leaps and bounds better than Kuhnel's mark, but that's also a bar as low as the ground. Kahnle stopped generating ground balls en masse with the Red Sox, which is a death knell given his proclivity for issuing free passes (he walked more batters than he struck out). Pretty much nothing he did went right, and even his signature changeup got hammered to the tune of a .679 slugging percentage.

So, why would the Brewers want any part of this guy? Well, for one thing, Kahnle's struggles were localized during the end of his tenure in Boston -- the first four appearances he made were all of the scoreless variety, and his command was far more reliable in those outings.

Likewise, this is a guy with a career ground-ball rate near 50%, which would play unbelievably well in front of the Brewers' sterling infield defense. It may require some tweaks with a more competent coaching staff -- he threw a disturbing amount of changeups up in the zone in Boston -- but Kahnle's track record is far more established than that of Kuhnel's.

If nothing else, Kyle Harrison is a pretty good example of what the Brewers can do when they pry a pitcher loose from the Red Sox. Taking a swing on Kahnle could yield pretty big benefits for a very small cost.

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