The Milwaukee Brewers have already moved on from Joel Kuhnel, and now the veteran right-hander is headed to San Francisco.
Kuhnel was claimed off waivers by the Giants after Milwaukee designated him for assignment earlier in the week. If he had cleared waivers, the Brewers could have tried to keep him in the organization by outrighting him to the minors, but that path would still have given Kuhnel the option to choose free agency because of his big league service time. Instead, the Giants stepped in and grabbed him.
"The Brewers announced that RHP Joel Kuhnel was claimed off waivers by San Francisco," McCalvy wrote.
Kuhnel’s time in Milwaukee was short and split between the majors and Triple-A. He made 10 appearances for the Brewers and another 11 with the Nashville Sounds after Milwaukee acquired him in a trade with the Athletics in June.
His numbers with Milwaukee were rough in the big leagues: a 6.52 ERA across 10 outings, with an 8-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 9 2/3 innings. He was far sharper in Triple-A, where he posted a 1.64 ERA in 11 innings over 11 appearances.
The move doesn’t really change much for Milwaukee’s bullpen outlook. The Brewers already have the third-best bullpen ERA in baseball at 3.31, and they recently added JoJo Romero and Abner Uribe back into the mix after both were activated from the Injured List. That group is deep enough to keep rolling into the final stretch, with Trevor Megill, Chad Patrick, Aaron Ashby, Grant Anderson, Abner Uribe, DL Hall and JoJo Romero all part of the mix.
San Francisco is in a different spot. The Giants’ bullpen ERA sits 20th in baseball at 4.23, and Kuhnel gives them another experienced arm as the season winds down. The Giants are not going to be in the playoffs, so this is the point in the year when clubs in that position look for help just to get through the finish line.
Kuhnel, 31, already logged 25 games with the Athletics earlier this season before landing with Milwaukee. He had a 4.21 ERA in 25 2/3 innings for Oakland, and that’s the version of him the Giants are betting can help them now.
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The Giants added another arm to the mix by claiming right-hander Joel Kuhnel off waivers from the Brewers, a move that fits the kind of late-season roster churn clubs often make when they are trying to patch together innings. Kuhnel has bounced around several organizations in recent years, and his profile is pretty familiar at this point: a ground-ball pitcher whose major league work has come with a 5.58 ERA across 129 innings.
What makes the claim more interesting for San Francisco is the roster math that comes with it. Kuhnel is out of options, so the Giants cannot simply tuck him away in the minors, and he will need an active roster spot while the club also figures out how to clear room on the 40-man. For a team still managing the edges of its pitching staff, that kind of move can set off a chain reaction. [Read more 🡒]
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The Giants added another arm to the mix by claiming right-hander Joel Kuhnel off waivers from the Brewers, a late-season move that fits the clubs pattern of stockpiling pitching depth for the stretch run. Kuhnel has already bounced through three organizations this season, and his work has been steady enough to keep him in the conversation, even if his role has been more about covering innings than handling pressure spots.
For San Francisco, the immediate plan is straightforward: use Kuhnel in low-leverage situations and see whether there is something to build on beyond this year. The longer view is a little more intriguing, because the Giants could keep him around for 2027 if he proves useful, making this less a one-off waiver claim than a possible first step in a longer stay. [Read more 🡒]