Fragen » the most recent example of this.

DETROIT -- Joel Hanrahan is still working back from elbow surgery for a team eagerly awaiting his return. The former All-Star agreed to a $1 million, one-year deal with the Detroit Tigers, who are hopeful the right-hander can bolster a shaky bullpen when hes ready to pitch again in the majors. Hanrahan had Tommy John surgery last May after nine appearances for the Boston Red Sox in 2013. He saved 76 games over the previous two seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates. "The one area we wanted to address the most with our ballclub has been our bullpen," general manager Dave Dombrowski said after announcing the deal Friday. The Tigers put Hanrahan on the 15-day disabled list, saying they will not rush him back to the majors. Hanrahan is expected to throw to hitters next week. "Right now I feel good. My arm feels good, my body feels good," Hanrahan said. "Im able to throw a slider again, which I havent been able to do for a while." Hanrahan will earn $819,672 of his base salary, or 150-183rds given that he wasnt on the roster until Friday. He can make $2.17 million in bonuses based on time on the active major league roster: $310,000 each for 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90 and 105 days. "Im not going to jump to the conclusion that hes going to be 100 per cent just because of the nature of the recovery from these surgeries, but the reports are his velocity has been good," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. "I dont know necessarily back to where he was pre-surgery, but it doesnt mean he wont get back. "I do know hes battle-tested in late innings," Ausmus added. "He wont be intimidated by a situation, which I think is very important, especially if you work your way into a pennant race by September." The 32-year-old said Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter -- a friend of his -- helped recruit him. Detroit signed veteran Joe Nathan to be the closer in the off-season, but the bullpen was hurt by a season-ending injury to Bruce Rondon. Tigers relievers had a 5.37 ERA entering Friday nights game at Kansas City. The 6-foot-4 Hanrahan is hesitant to put any timetable on his return. "I dont think anybodys really saying like, Youve got to be back on June 1," Hanrahan said. "Its kind of a situation where I havent faced a hitter yet, I havent bounced back from throwing in a game. Its a situation that, itll come day by day." Ausmus also tried to temper expectations that Hanrahan will be able to help soon. "Youre making the assumption that everything is going to go well, and I hope it does," he said, "but theres some Ts to cross and Is to dot before Im ready to say how great this is. But all things equal, Id rather have him if hes healthy than not have him." If Hanrahan is healthy and effective, he could end up being one of the teams top right-handed options in the bullpen, along with Nathan. Al Alburquerque and Joba Chamberlain have shown the ability to strike hitters out, but they had ERAs of 4.50 and 4.35 entering Friday. Hanrahan was an All-Star in 2011 and 2012, and in 2010 he struck out 100 hitters in 69 2-3 innings for the Pirates. "When anybody comes back from injury thats got an established big league history, we try to watch all of those guys throw whenever we can," Dombrowski said. "Were always looking to upgrade." Fake NBA Jerseys . Now comes an off-season of questions about manager Matt Williams decisions and a handful of key roster choices, including what to do about Ryan Zimmerman, whether to sign Jordan Zimmermann and Ian Desmond to long-term deals, and how to upgrade an offence that fell flat in October. Fake Jerseys .ca. The NHL Play of the Year showdown kicks off with some slick moves going head-to-head with a combination of soft hands and endless patience. https://www.fakejerseys.us.com/ . Burkes Flames are one of several teams involved in heavy trade speculation going into next Wednesdays 3pm et deadline, with the most prominent name in play being forward Michael Cammalleri. Fake Baseball Jerseys . Catch all the action on TSN starting at 10:30pm et/7:30pm pt. Toronto won at Denver and Utah, but lost in Portland and Sacramento. The Kings loss was the most recent game for the Raptors. Fake Football Jerseys . PETERSBURG, Fla.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Kerry, In the Canadiens/Oilers game Thursday night - third period - Lars Eller crosschecked Taylor Hall directly from behind, face first into the boards. And it was face first - Halls face was the first part of his body to make contact with the boards. He did not get his hands up in time to protect himself (and I watched it several times, frame by frame). But no major penalty? Seriously? In minor hockey that is at least a major and a game, and if you assessed a match, you would be justified. Whats the rationale? Because there was no blood or teeth lost? The non-call is particularly frustrating in comparison to the Mike Fisher hit on Cody Franson on Thursday night, which was not as bad but resulted in a major penalty and a game misconduct because Franson was bleeding all over the place - but only because his visor cut him (and if we want to get into players being driven into stanchions - Chara on Pacioretty is the standard, and there was no penalty on that one). Whats the explanation and wheres the consistency? Cole MacKay Cole: I totally concur with your assessment on this play and the resulting penalty should have been a major and game misconduct (rule 43—Checking from Behind) to Lars Eller for this dangerous hit. A check from behind is a check delivered on a player who is not aware of the impending hit, therefore unable to protect himself, and contact is made on the back part of the body. Any player who cross-checks, pushes or charges from behind an opponent who is unable to protect or defend himself shall be assessed a major penalty and game misconduct. Note also that when a player intentionally turns his body to create contact with his back, no penalty shall be assessed. While Taylor Hall did turn slightly toward the side boards after gaining possession of the puck it would be unreasonable to suggest that Hall did so intentionally to expose his back for the purpose of creating contact as described in rule 43.1. Lars Eller on the other hand travelled from his location in front of the Montreal goal and had sufficient time to alter both his approach and method of contact (cross-check directly from behind to opponents back) once Taylor Hall faced the boards and was placed in a vulnerable position. The visual picture presented by Taylor Halls snap/arch of his back and face-plant into the boards following the cross-check by Eller clearly fall within the languaage and application of rule 43—Check from Behind and should have been penalized as such.dddddddddddd I am not suggesting that there should be any further discipline to Lars Eller since we should recognize that while the hit was illegal Eller didnt utilize "excessive force" through the hit worthy of a suspension. The correct call (major and game misconduct boarding) was made last night when Mike Fisher pushed Cody Franson from behind creating some additional velocity at the last instance and causing Franson to contact the curved glass/stanchion at the end of the players bench. While Fransons visible injury most definitely had relevance to the application of a major penalty and game misconduct as prescribed in the boarding rule, the fact remains that a dangerous situation resulted from the unexpected push from behind by Fisher. Your call for "consistency" is well taken, Cole. It is imperative that the Referees differentiate between varying degrees of boarding, checks from behind and illegal checks to the head but more importantly not have any reluctance in assessing major penalties when warranted. Too many player suspensions have been imposed by the Player Safety Committee when a minor penalty or worse yet no penalty at all were assessed on the play. Brad Stuarts three-game suspension for what was ruled upon as an illegal check to the head of New York Ranger Rick Nash is the most recent example of this. That will likely change today, pending the outcome of an in-person hearing called for Patrick Kaleta of Buffalo (suspected illegal check to the head of Jack Johnson, Columbus) and a hearing for Vancouvers Alexander Edler (suspected illegal head check on Tomas Hertl, San Jose). Neither Kaleta nor Edler were penalized on the plays in question. I see one of the problems the Referees created for themselves and the game was the elimination of a major penalty (due to Refs reluctance to impose it) when an illegal check to the head is called. Rule 48 provides for a minor penalty or a match penalty. The major and game misconduct provisions were eliminated in this rule. So whenever an illegal check to the head is identified in a game at best it results in a minor penalty and the player remains in the game. Upon further review that player could ultimately be suspended for three plus games pending the outcome of a hearing. Putting consistency aside, for something as serious as the protection of a players head I think the rule and the application by many of the Refs is far too soft and short sighted. ' ' '