Red Sox RP Tommy Kahnle joins FT

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Here comes Tommy Canley joining us on FT Tommy, it's good to see you, man.

00:00:07
Speaker 2: How you been And.

00:00:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, it has everything down there and four Myers right, you're running four Myers for us for a little.

00:00:14
Speaker 2: Bit, I guess. So I'm doing good. You know, it's it's going well down here. It's obviously sunny out. You know, it's actually been monsoon in the last three or four days here, so it's been a little interesting, but that's obviously. You know how Florida works. Late late afternoon showers is usually how it works. So I get all the work in before that and come back to this hotel and do nothing all day. Love. Yeah, I do love this. Yeah, you know, no kids right now, So I'm just kidding, getting the hours in that I can.

00:00:51
Speaker 3: Earth thumbs not yet.

00:00:54
Speaker 2: No eyes aren't bleeding yet either, so that's that's a good sign. Good good.

00:01:01
Speaker 1: What's what's the word, dude? So like, what's the progression for you right now? And when do you think that you'll crack the bigs?

00:01:08
Speaker 2: So today I actually threw last of my progression, So it was I wanted to get a two out of three before I high tailed it up north. So I think their plan is to send me to Worcester, so I'll be I'm pretty sure I'll be activated on Tuesday for those games, and then I don't know, well, I think they kind of just want to see me, you know, see how I do against obviously triple A competition. Kind of everything feels good right now. I mean today's Live was the best definitely the best showing so far since you know, I left the WBC. So I felt I felt really good after today, and I feel like I'm in a good spot and you know, hopefully they like what they see and I can be up there soon.

00:01:54
Speaker 4: Are there are there benchmarks they want you to hit once you're in Worcester, where it's a sense of, you know, you're a big league veteran. Sometimes big leaguers come to the minor leagues and.

00:02:07
Speaker 2: You give up.

00:02:07
Speaker 4: You give up certain things, You give up certain hits, runs and situations that ay that probably wouldn't happen in the big leagues. Is there stuff that they said, Hey, we want to make sure you're throwing strikes, this percentage of strikes we don't. We want to make sure you throw one hundred percent change ups stuff like that.

00:02:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, to be honest, we didn't really put together like kind of like benchmarks that I need to like hit or things that I think they just want to see that I look right. I know after the first outing that I threw with with Boston, what was that probably two weeks ago. I know, Core was really really pleased. He gave me props, you know, that sat me down that day. And then I saw him the next day. He was very pleased. He seemed like he liked where I was at, and he said, you know, they just want me to build that workload and just be prepped and ready for the big league. You know how things go up there, It's just it's a grind. You're gonna have to be the arms, gotta be ready to go and be asked to take the ball every day. And that's always been my that's my forte. So you call down there, I'm gonna pick the ball up and go whatever you need.

00:03:14
Speaker 3: Tommy, when we were talking about benchmarks, does that mean throwing a fastball? Do you have to be able to throw a fastball in order to get called up or do you just go down there and just throw change up, change up, change up, strike out. These seventeen eighteen year old kids, and you're like, I'm ready, guys, bring me up.

00:03:30
Speaker 2: So it's funny you say that. Obviously that's that's not everybody's mind. So these outings since I've been with Boston have been for me. It's mental like like exhale essentially, you know, I have the guys. I had Veritec come up to me in the first couple of days and kind of run through you know, where do I like, you know, the catcher set up on certain pitches, when do I like to throw them into acounts like slider, change up, sinkers, everything and every outing I've had so far, I've been using it all and I feel like I've gotten better just by doing that instead of spamming change ups you know eighty five percent of the time. So the heater is good shape right now. You know, guys are taking funny swings at it. So I think we're in a good spot and I'm hoping that that'll translate to the big league level this year. So hopefully we can get some more fastballs, and that's for sure, some sliders. Slider's been a lot better. I do. Yeah, that's the funny thing.

00:04:22
Speaker 3: Wait, hold on, since win, since like this week Kratz knows.

00:04:26
Speaker 2: He just never called it.

00:04:29
Speaker 4: That is not that is not true.

00:04:32
Speaker 2: That is not true.

00:04:33
Speaker 4: For the first like two or three times I caught you in triple A, I thought your best pitch was the slider, and then everyone was like, do you realize where his change up profiles at? You have to you've thrown your slider forever.

00:04:49
Speaker 2: Yeah. Fine, I've been using a lot more in these games, so it's been great. I'm u. I feel like it's got good shape, you know, I've I mean today it was through one bad one and it was a luckily the wind was blown in so centerfield. But uh, I just want to get used to throwing it, you know. Repetition's huge, and the more I can throw it, the better I'll feel out there command wise with it. And I'm really looking to just use it early in the count and steal strikes and just get hitters thinking even more.

00:05:19
Speaker 3: Is there something to like?

00:05:20
Speaker 4: Okay, you talked about the two and three days, making sure you have back to backs, being able to be ready once you're in the big leagues. It's still freaking cold up there. It's gonna be cold in Worcester all of April. It's gonna be cold to like Sinco de Mayo in Boston. So does that kind of go into it a little bit for you too, where you're like, Okay, yes, I feel great at eighty degrees. Maybe I need a day or two more to be able to then get up to one hundred percent at forty five degrees in a night game in Worcester.

00:05:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so, you're not wrong. They did give me an option. So they gave me the option. You know, do I want to stay down here and keep going or do I want to go up there with with the team and continue building, you know, in more in like a controlled setting, but in the cold. And it seemed as if they were pushing more towards staying here, just just getting staying healthy in the warmer weather and then going up there and embracing the cold. But I you know, man, I'm the Northeast guys. If it's thirty or forty even better, I'm used to it being you know, ten twenty degrees. It's great stuff.

00:06:31
Speaker 4: Wait wait, wait, wait, I just read on your profile that you were in Boca Raton, Florida when you went to Lynn University, So that makes you a Florida guy. Based on AJ's that that base. That's an AJ theory that wherever. You know, he was born in the Hampton, so he's front. He's a Long Island guy, played in Chicago, so he's a Chicago guy. So so that's probably why you're soft and you want to stay down in Florida because you were at the school in Florida. But my real question is not even a question. I actually know what day you're gonna get called up.

00:07:07
Speaker 2: What do you have for me?

00:07:09
Speaker 4: April twentieth, Boston plays a day game and then you're gonna get called up that night because they play the Yankees the next day or the first series, and Eraldus Chapman is over there going. Tom My Gailey, I know him and I like I like him very much, so he has to be up here because we are going to beat the Yankees together. Is there any is there anything to do with I see your smile? Is there any extra little hype that like, I'm not saying the Yankees did you wrong or anything like that. I'm saying the extra hype to be part of that rivalry again just on the other side.

00:07:49
Speaker 2: Uh, there's definitely some extra juice. I mean, that's that's a given. I mean, being on the other side of this rivalry obviously, you know you you look forward to it, He really did. I mean, I know, like there's been a lot of like crazy talk over the last few years. Guys were trying to say that this wasn't a rival anymore. That's definitely false. So to be on the other side, you know, I'll be a little amped up, that's uh. I got to try to kind of control that though, because I feel like that's usually where I get in trouble. You know, you go against an old team and you know everybody, you want to prove that you know, you're still good, and so I got to try to maybe calm the emotions if it does get you know, if I get called up then but if not, then you know, I see him the next time. I know that at some point I'm gonna end up running into them. So I'm looking forward to it and definitely, you know, keep the ship talk going.

00:08:40
Speaker 3: Tommy, were you nervous about not signing because you signed late? So were you nervous about not signing this this this off season, this winter, whatever, this spring training? Maybe I should ask you since you I mean, it happened like the last week of spring training? Were you worried that you weren't going to get signed? Because I saw you when you were a team Israel and you you big league me. So I don't know if you were mad at the world norvous making things up. No, I read it to you.

00:09:06
Speaker 2: I gave you a big hug. Did you know?

00:09:09
Speaker 3: Did you?

00:09:09
Speaker 2: I think so? Yeah, we came up a little bit. I asked you if everybody was here? You just said you and Mark Solo trained today.

00:09:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's true. That is where's that Jupiter? Jupiter?

00:09:22
Speaker 2: Right? Jupiter? Yeah, yeah, we're Jupiter. But uh, oh crap. What was the question?

00:09:28
Speaker 3: Were you nervous about not signing?

00:09:30
Speaker 2: Were you getting anxious about not signing?

00:09:34
Speaker 3: Now you're trying to prove that I'm not telling you the truth, which is not true.

00:09:37
Speaker 2: I uh, I wasn't nervous. No. So I had a lot of the nri I offers early on. So we were kind of just, you know, biding time. And I think a big reason was if I ended up signing with a team, I wasn't going to be able to play in the WBC because of insurance things. They deemed me, uh, chronically injured, so it would have been it would have been a disaster to try. Yeah, I would I would have not been able to play most likely. So I wanted to play in that And then I told my agent after that, let's try to you know, get if there's no big league offers, then I'm definitely willing to sign with. You know, a list of teams that I uh picked out for NRIs.

00:10:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, because you were over thirty five and all the insurance guys now, I mean everybody, all these guys that are over thirty five. So if you're a fan of a player who's over thirty five, do not do not expect him to play for your country in the WBC.

00:10:37
Speaker 2: How was that experience you? I mean, it was awesome.

00:10:40
Speaker 4: You held out to not sign with a big league team, to be in big league camp to do it. Was it all that you thought it was going to be.

00:10:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, and more, it really was. I think that experience was something that I don't think I'll be able to experience again. I mean, I hope so, but I'm gonna be pretty old by the next one, so we'll see how it goes. But you know, that was I would put that definitely a top experience of my life. For top three by far. I mean those games against the dr and Venezuela were something special. Even Nicaragua game was there was that's the most fans obviously, I've ever seen that stadium. You know, I played there plenty of times and it is not like that, that's for sure. So that was it was really cool. You know that watch the games in Houston too. I was following all the games as best as I could. It was it was that experience is I really enjoyed it, and I think, you know, in the future, I would hope more guys would be willing to sign on and see if we can get this insurance stuff figured out. But it was, it was, it was truly special. I was truly honored and I'm very grateful that I got to got to experience that. Tommy.

00:11:53
Speaker 3: I'm in Boca right now as we speak, since you went to land which is in Boca.

00:11:59
Speaker 2: Okay.

00:11:59
Speaker 3: I got a parking ticket yesterday from the PoCA police two days it was actually two days ago. Now do you know anyone there that can get that clear because apparently I typed in the wrong parking spot. I tried to do the right thing, and it was like a six digit parking thing, and I typed in like two of the wrong numbers. So you know, anyone like the chief of police that I can call to get me out of this thirty five dollars ticket.

00:12:18
Speaker 2: Oh you should be good. My wife did that. She actually put the wrong number, and then I think she like called the people. It was like and they like took it away. I don't know. Something weird. It happened to us too well. She had proof that we parked there. It was just she put the wrong number, that's all.

00:12:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, So I should I think you.

00:12:38
Speaker 2: I would try.

00:12:39
Speaker 3: Okay, wow, and then thirty five dollars. That's forty three dollars me, that's a.

00:12:44
Speaker 2: Lot of money. Yeah, I'm not I'm not willing to sacrifice that. I know my wife's definitely not willing to sacrifice that. So exactly, Wow, this is a thing.

00:12:54
Speaker 1: This is I mean, I was making fun of you all week, but it is apparently a thing that they have.

00:12:59
Speaker 3: Like five digits parking spot numbers you have to type in and you can't just you have to walk back and forth because you can't remember the numbers. So you're like, oh, it's just Joe, and you're like it will expire in ten seconds. You're like, oh, gets to zero?

00:13:15
Speaker 2: No more. I wish we just had the old school. You don't throw a quarter in the thing, But hey, what are you gonna do?

00:13:19
Speaker 3: Nobody has quarters anymore?

00:13:21
Speaker 2: No those are God, where'd they all go? I don't know.

00:13:25
Speaker 3: They're all in the in the fountain, the Trevy Fountain in Rome. Tommy, Tommy, when you do get called up to Boston, are you still gonna walk rock your Eagles tired ass gear or your Notre Dame tired gear? Like what are you still gonna after the years they had? Are you still gonna wear that stuff?

00:13:44
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, I think you're in for a big surprise with Notre Dame this year. You guys like, yeah, Lou Holtz, it's gonna be the they're gonna win the you know, but the birds. Yeah, I'm gonna wear it on undred. Hey, if I get chance to rock Nick Foles in Boston, I get a lot of funny looks because I usually bring it every time that we go to Boston. I wear it around. They don't like it. That's good Philly, Philly. They will embrace you.

00:14:15
Speaker 4: The woostas the Woosta crazies in the mass holes, they will embrace you. But my last question to you, we started to show off with it. Carter Jensen slept in got scratched from the lineup. I've seen you in the morning. Have you ever slept through your alarm and thought you were gonna be late for a game? Thou always? That's definitely.

00:14:41
Speaker 2: I think the latest though that I got there one day. Because I did that, it was probably like eleven to eleven thirty that was panicked. That's a panic, especially as the younger guy. Woof, you get ragged on. Definitely. I don't know if anything too crazy happened, but yeah, I kind of got looked that funny. I think I probably didn't pitch well either makes sense they'll miss that alarm. But it's always like, you know, you don't what your relief pitcher though, you like, yeah, I know, but you're not a position was there and it doesn't it doesn't affect other players.

00:15:18
Speaker 3: I was thinking about this one. It affected Salvey and Salvey had to catch instead of d H and you know the prep for a catcher that goes into it.

00:15:25
Speaker 2: Right real quick.

00:15:26
Speaker 1: Tommy, was that when you were with the Rockies?

00:15:28
Speaker 2: Is that how far back no, I think I think it was when I was with the White Sox. Okay, so it was only like two three years in the league, and I was panic. But luckily that bullpen they were they were really nice to me. They liked me. That's a good thing. But say I was like eight, if I had about eight to nine, you know, ten years of the league. You show up at eleven, it doesn't matter. I mean at that age, not a good not a good look, definitely not. That's what we saw that. Yeah, it's a that's panic. We've all done it. You sleep through the alarm, you get as soon as you wake up, your eyes it's that like your heart drops. It's brutal. And that's why Michael, that's why I said, like five alarms. So see it's great.

00:16:15
Speaker 3: Michael and her staff does that. He sets like twenty alarms.

00:16:18
Speaker 2: I don't understand. My wife gets so mad at me. So she when I'm home, I only have one because I used to do that. I'd have like three or four and it would keep going off. She's like, why don't you just set it for later because I'm not going to wake up. I need like four shots. Yeah, man, do.

00:16:39
Speaker 3: You also sleep in your socks, Tommy, I just want to know this is like a thing.

00:16:43
Speaker 2: No, yes, and no, just I have no preference. There's times where I sleep in pants, shorts, boxers, not the shirt.

00:16:52
Speaker 3: No shirt, because I didn't know if the sleeping through alarm thing came with sleeping with socks, because we have a guy that works for us named Michael that does both. So I didn't know if they come together, if they were like a combo platter.

00:17:04
Speaker 2: I don't think I don't think it is.

00:17:06
Speaker 1: No, Tommy, seems more like a go with the wind guy at night, right, like whatever, whatever is the flavor of the night. All right, I like the shirt, I'll sleep in it.

00:17:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's all all right.

00:17:18
Speaker 1: Well, now that we got all of the important business out of the way, go do your thing. We're keeping track. Hopefully we'll talk to you in a couple of weeks. Will be up in the big leagues shutting down the Yanks.

00:17:27
Speaker 2: All right, good talking to twenty. That's when you're getting the call.

00:17:34
Speaker 1: Boy in Boston, Tommy can Thanks Tommy, Thanks guys.

00:17:40
Speaker 2: Always great