The Brewers don’t need to go shopping for another middle-relief arm in a perfect world. Jared Koenig is back, Garrett Stallings has been called up to replace Robert Gasser, and Aaron Ashby can be used pretty much whenever the club wants.
But Joel Kuhnel’s rough run is getting harder to ignore. Since his promising debut, the 31-year-old right-hander has put up a 6.23 ERA and 10.03 FIP for Milwaukee, good for -0.6 fWAR in just 8.2 innings. The results have been ugly enough that the Brewers may want to look elsewhere before they even think about paying deadline prices for bullpen help, especially since Kuhnel is out of minor-league options.
That opens the door to Tommy Kahnle, another veteran reliever who is going through a tough season of his own. Unlike Kuhnel, who leans on velocity and a wide mix of secondary pitches, Kahnle is built around one pitch above all else: the changeup. That approach has worked for him before, but it also came with the kind of blowups he just endured with the Red Sox.
Tommy Kahnle has been DFA’d, per @ChrisCotillo.
He showed absolutely nothing once he was brought back up to the big leagues. pic.twitter.com/gXqY2gkniL
- Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) July 1, 2026
Boston’s decision to designate him for assignment almost certainly sends him to waivers and, eventually, free agency. That makes him a low-cost, no-risk target if Milwaukee wants to see whether it can squeeze a little more out of a veteran arm with a longer track record than Kuhnel’s.
Kahnle had to work his way back onto the Red Sox roster in June through an upward mobility clause, and he did enough in Triple-A Worcester to earn the look. He posted a 1.40 ERA and 3.25 FIP there, but the success didn’t carry over. In eight appearances and nine innings with Boston, the 36-year-old was tagged for an 8.00 ERA and 6.89 FIP.
That FIP is still better than Kuhnel’s, though not by much. More troubling for Kahnle was the way things unraveled.
He stopped getting ground balls at the rate he usually does, and with his walk rate outpacing his strikeout rate, the whole package fell apart. Even the changeup, his calling card, got hit hard, producing a .679 slugging percentage.
Still, there are reasons Milwaukee could be interested. Kahnle’s struggles were concentrated late in his Boston stint, and his first four outings were scoreless with much steadier command.
He also owns a career ground-ball rate near 50%, which would fit nicely behind the Brewers’ strong infield defense. A few adjustments from a more effective coaching staff might be enough, especially after Boston had him throwing a troubling number of changeups up in the zone.
If the Brewers are looking for a cheap bet with some upside, Kahnle fits the mold. Kyle Harrison already offers a reminder of what can happen when Milwaukee gets a pitcher out of Boston and gets to work.
In Other News...
Brewers Suddenly Face A Roster Decision On A Familiar Pitcher
Jake Woodfords return to the Brewers organization has quickly turned into another roster crossroads. The right-handed reliever, who was designated for assignment in early June, cleared waivers, elected free agency and then came back on a minor league deal, but his season has not given Milwaukee much reason to feel locked in one direction.
Woodford has struggled in both the majors and at Triple-A this year, and now the contract he signed gives the Brewers a decision they cannot avoid for long. If they do not add him to the big-league roster, the alternative would leave them without much control over what happens next, which is exactly the kind of late-summer bullpen wrinkle teams prefer not to have hanging over them. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Suddenly Have One More Deadline Question In The Outfield
The Brewers are already expected to be busy before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, with bullpen help, a top-tier starter and a left-side infield answer all on the shopping list. But the more this lineup is examined, the clearer it becomes that the outfield may need a look too, especially with Milwaukee leaning heavily on left-handed bats in a season where left-on-left matchups have been a problem.
A right-handed hitting outfielder would give the Brewers another way to patch that split, whether the answer comes from the farm system or from the trade market. Prospect Luis Lara has given the organization something to think about with strong production against left-handers in the minors, and the front office will have to decide whether internal depth is enough or whether this is another spot that needs to be addressed before the deadline clock runs out. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Face A Brutal Jacob Misiorowski Decision As Stakes Rise
Jacob Misiorowski has become one of the most compelling stories in the National League, and the Brewers are now staring at the kind of decision every contender hopes to avoid. With the rookie right-hander in the mix for the NL Cy Young Award, Milwaukee has to weigh the value of pushing for individual hardware against the bigger priority of keeping his arm fresh for the stretch run.
That tension is what makes the second half so tricky. Misiorowskis workload has already climbed into territory that demands attention, and the Brewers know a cautious approach could leave him short of the volume that tends to sway award voters, especially when other top starters are piling up innings. For Milwaukee, it is a familiar front-office and dugout balancing act, but this one carries a little more weight because the upside is so obvious and the margin for error is so thin. [Read more 🡒]