The Cubs made several roster moves mostly revolving around their bullpen on Friday just ahead of the non-tender deadline. Going into the day, two big league bullpen options and Chicago Cubs veterans Justin Grimm and Hector Rondon had still not been offered arbitration as a part of their team control. As the deadline came and went, it was just Grimm that was offered a contract. Rondon was non-tendered in addition to catcher Taylor Davis. Reliever Matt Carasiti was released.

The non-tender of Rondon was the big news of the day as it appears that his 5 year career with the Northsiders will come to a close. Rondon joined the team in 2013 as a Rule 5 draft pick from the Cleveland Indians. By the next season he was a staple in the back end of the bullpen, locking down 29 saves that year. Over the course of his tenure in Chicago he locked down a total of 77 saves.

The 29 year old dealt with his fair share of injuries starting in the 2016 season and eventually lost his closer role to a couple of guys by the names of Chapman and Davis due to relative ineffectiveness. While his time in Chicago was clearly coming to a close, Rondi will go down as one of the most underrated relievers in Cubs history and the 8th best ever according to fWAR.

In addition to Rondon, catcher and camera-lover Taylor Davis was also non-tendered. Now 28 years old, Davis has had an extremely consistent minor league career that culminated with a September call-up in 2017. At this point, his future is up in the air as there is still a possibility that Davis ends up back with the Cubs on a minor league deal. The team could use some Major League catching depth as they lose both Rene Rivera and Alex Avila to free agency, but as it stands now, it doesn’t appear that Davis would be the guy to take over the reserve duties behind the plate. Stashing him in Iowa also seems unlikely as a promotion of Ian Rice from Tennessee will be the likely move in 2018.

The final move of the day was the release of Matt Carasiti who will sign a deal to play in Japan next season. Carasiti was the return in the Zac Rosscup deal to the Rockies this past season. The righty reliever put up very good numbers during his time in Iowa and was expected to be quality bullpen depth in 2018. His release brings more questions for the Cubs middle innings eaters for the upcoming season. Theo & Co. will have some work to do in free agency this winter.