Yankees: Tommy Kahnle timetable for return revealed after Tommy John surgery

The Yankees have lost Tommy Kahnle, who officially underwent Tommy John surgery on Tuesday.

When the Yankees lost Tommy Kahnle last week with a very stereotypical “forearm tightness to season-ending surgery” timeline, most fans did the mental math themselves.

With his contract expiring following the 2021 MLB season, there was almost no way Kahnle would be rejoining the Yanks ever again. Though the bullpen would technically survive without him, there was no accurate way to replace the energy Kahnle brought to every extended piece of this roster.

A week later, while it remains highly unlikely that the biggest, loudest member of the ‘pen will return next year, there is now at least a slight flicker of hope.

In this remarkably swift-moving process, Kahnle reportedly already had the surgical procedure on Tuesday. That means that, with no complications, a 9-to-12-month recovery process awaits him.

Tommy Kahnle Injury Timeline

Huh. 9-to-12, you say? OK, fine, we’re already sucked back in. Hope is a dangerous thing.

The minor silver lining here is that Kahnle is a reliever, meaning his arduous rehab process won’t involve rebuilding his arm from the ground up, then adding incremental pitch increases until his stuff is all the way back, and he’s able to maintain it for 100+ pitches.

All Kahnle will eventually have to do is build his strength back up to go full-tilt for about 30 pitches at a time.

So, is nine months really realistic? It’s unlikely, but it’s happened before. Veteran lefty Zach Duke returned in July of 2017 from a TJS procedure the previous October. It’s very difficult to sprint back like that, but if it’s going to happen, it’s going to be a reliever who gets it done.

We’ve seen enough Tommy John procedures (which feel inevitable at this point) that we know pitchers often come back stronger than ever after going under the knife.

Even if he misses the entire 2021 campaign, Kahnle will only be 32 years old when he enters free agency, and he’ll undoubtedly be a Yankees target.

Hopefully, though, the wild man with the dangerous changeup will be back slightly sooner, something he attempted to ensure with this quick move.

Yankees: It’s time to make Mike Tauchman the starting left fielder

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone needs to make Mike Tauchman the starting left fielder and use Brett Gardner as the team's fourth outfielder.