Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Tommy Kahnle has returned to the New York Yankees after signing a two-year, $11.5 million contract on Tuesday. The deal was first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

As reported by our very own Michael Mayer, the Mets had shown some interest in the right-handed reliever earlier in the offseason with the front office needing to rebuild the bullpen for the 2023 season. Kahnle also attracted interest from a number of other teams, including the Boston Red Sox, despite not being able to stay on the field over the last few years.

Kahnle has thrown under 14 innings over the last three seasons, with just over 12 of those innings coming during the 2022 season. The 33-year-old tossed just one inning for the Yankees in 2020 before undergoing Tommy John Surgery, returning with the LA Dodgers last year. Kahnle pitched just four innings before being shutdown for most of the season with forearm soreness, before appearing in nine games towards the end of the year. He had a 0.84 ERA over that stretch.

Drafted by the Yankees in 2010, Kahnle has been a very effective reliever when he’s healthy with a career 3.78 ERA in just over 290 innings. However, the problem has been staying off the shelf for the righty and he has appeared in over 40 games in a season just three times since 2014. His dominance down the stretch in 2022 shows the high ceiling and why there were a host of teams interested this offseason.

Kahnle was almost un-hittable for the Dodgers late on in 2022, allowing just one run over 8 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts and one walk. He dominated hitters with a filthy 90 m.p.h changeup, which he threw an incredible 83 percent of the time, while his 4-seam fastball sat at 95-96 m.p.h.

With Kahnle now off the board, the Mets will have to shift their attention to other bullpen targets with the offseason now truly cooking after a slow boil to start. Outside of elite closer Edwin Diaz, who signed a record-breaking five-year, $102 million contract earlier in the winter, there is a lot of uncertainty in the bullpen and the front office still need to go out and sign a high-end lefty arm that can deal in high-leverage situations.