What in the world is going on with Dodgers reliever Tommy Kahnle?

Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Tommy Kahnle last pitched when he was a member of the New York Yankees back in 2020. He suffered a UCL injury during the COVID-shortened season and underwent Tommy John surgery that August.

It’s now been 19 months and he’s yet to throw an official or unofficial pitch for the Dodgers after signing a two-year contract with the team last offseason. He still hasn’t even appearing in Spring Training. So what’s going on with the veteran right-hander?

And more importantly, what’s going on with this Dodgers’ bullpen, which lost Kenley Jansen and Joe Kelly?

Kahnle spoke to reporters on Tuesday after facing live hitters for just the second time since going under the knife and provided us with some information about his rehab and timetable.

Tommy Kahnle provides injury update for Dodgers fans

The good news? Kahnle will appear in the Cactus League finale this Saturday in what will be his first live game action since July of 2020. Dodgers fans will get their first look at him since joining the organization.

The bad news? He won’t be ready for Opening Day. Kahnle added that he’s going to spend the month of April “putting the finishing touches” on his rehab process and that the recovery has “definitely taken longer than expected.”

By the end of April he expects to make his Dodgers debut and will hopefully add the much-needed late-inning relief the bullpen so desperately needs after a lackluster offseason on that front.

Kahnle’s two best seasons came in 2017 (with the White Sox and Yankees) and 2019 (with the Yankees), and it’d be a huge help if manager Dave Roberts is able to deploy him like New York did those years. Kahnle was used as a fireman-type arm, appearing in innings 6-8 with regularity (as well as some as early as the fifth and as late as the ninth). His devastating changeup is what truly separates him from his other right-handed peers, which helped him strike out 96 batters in 62.2 innings back in 2017 and 88 batters in 61.1 innings in 2019.

That’s an element of the bullpen that would help bridge the gap to now-closer Blake Treinen in a way that would improve the Dodgers drastically, since they’ve usually had mediocre/shaky relievers taking on that role. Any blood pressure that can be lowered as a result of an effective bullpen, the better.

Then again, there is concern here. Kahnle has thrown one inning over the last two seasons and a total of 85.2 over the last four. How much will he realistically be able to provide after such a limited workload since the start of 2018? And on a $3.45 million contract for the 2022 season?

We’re starting to think this is a high-risk, high-reward move at this juncture.

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