For a third time in his career, Tommy Kahnle is a former Yankee.
The righty reliever agreed to a one-year, $7.75 million contract with the Tigers on Wednesday, The Post confirmed, ending his latest strong stint in The Bronx.
Kahnle was drafted by the Yankees in 2010 and selected by the Rockies in the 2013 Rule 5 draft. He arrived back with the Yankees in a 2017 trade and pitched well until Tommy John surgery in 2020, after which he signed with the Dodgers.
He spent 2021 and ’22 in Los Angeles before hitting free agency again and landing back in pinstripes, with whom he posted a 2.38 ERA in 92 games the past two seasons.
The 35-year-old has aged well, transitioning from a pitcher who relies on heat to a pitcher who almost always threw changeups at times last season, but biceps and shoulder injuries have sidelined him each of the past two years.
There had been mutual interest in yet another reunion with the Yankees earlier this winter, a source had said, but an expensive offseason and an eye on the $301 million CBT threshold likely deterred Brian Cashman & Co.
The Yankees’ bullpen projects as a strength and includes Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, Ian Hamilton, Jonathan Loáisiga, Fernando Cruz, Jake Cousins, Mark Leiter Jr. and Scott Effross.
