Yankees' biggest offseason mistake was easiest possible move they could have made

Over the last couple of weeks, the New York Yankees' bullpen has been exposed to varying degrees, but leave it to the hated Boston Red Sox to make everything as uncomfortable as it can possibly get. On both Saturday and Sunday, they victimized New York's relievers.

It really wasn't anything wildly different from what fans had already seen — it was just that much worse because it was the Red Sox.

The $5 million given to Jonathan Loaisiga looks like a massive waste, as we predicted the moment rumors started surfacing. Tim Hill is not the 2024 version of Tim Hill. Mark Leiter Jr. continues to be a rollercoaster. Ian Hamilton is in a bad, bad place. Luke Weaver is on the injured list for the foreseeable future. Devin Williams has been fine, but that's not good enough considering he was "best reliever in the sport from 2020-2024." Fernando Cruz has been good, but his shoulder injury has clearly affected his play recently. Then there's Brent Headrick and Yerry De Los Santos. This is a bad bullpen.

One simple offseason move could've really changed everything, though. Instead of giving Loaisiga $5 million to miss the first two months of the year and then spend another two months getting back up to speed, the Yankees could've simply paid Tommy Kahnle, the guy who had a desire to return after a very good season.

Yankees fans definitely expressed frustration with Kahnle from time to time. He typically breaks down toward the end of the year, and he crumbled against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the clinching Game 5 collapse. But in terms of providing quality innings during the bulk of the regular season and helping provide some stability through a grueling 162-game slate, Kahnle was largely great from 2023-2024.

Yankees prioritizing Jonathan Loaisiga over Tommy Kahnle looks like a clear mistake

Over that span, he appeared in 92 games and sported a low-2.00s ERA with over 10 K/9. The Yankees could have let Loaisiga and JT Brubaker walk and that would've pretty much covered the $7.75 million the Detroit Tigers paid Kahnle.

The veteran right-hander, by the way, owns a 1.26 ERA, 3.07 FIP and 0.73 WHIP across 28 2/3 innings this year. That would be a godsend in the Yankees' bullpen right now. Instead, he's thriving amongst an elite crew in Detroit.

Before anybody begins to bemoan "revisionist history" here, this is not a "hindsight" take whatsoever. Yankees fans genuinely questioned the team's lack of pursuit of Kahnle and were even more confused when they learned the front office never even reached out to him this past offseason.

Kahnle would be top dog in the Yankees' bullpen right now with Luke Weaver on the shelf. And honestly ... that wouldn't have been too far off the preseason prediction. Who out of this group would have out-ranked him heading into 2025 besides Williams and Weaver? The answer is nobody.

In the end, the Yankees conducted unnecessary gymnastics with an otherwise simple move that could have left them in a much better position for at least the first four months of the season.