It was released Thursday afternoon that the organization had finally cut ties with reliever Justin Grimm. The 29-year-old was one of the longest tenured Cubs players after being acquired from the Texas Rangers in the 2010 Matt Garza deal that also brought Carl Edwards Jr, Mike Olt, and Neil Ramirez to the North Side. The Grimm Reaper made a huge impact during his first couple seasons out of the bullpen for the Cubs. During his first full season with the team in 2014 Grimm was the workhorse the squad needed, throwing a nice amount of innings at 69 for the year on his way to a 3.78 ERA.

He stepped up in a major way the following season, setting career bests for strikeouts per 9 innings (12.1), hits per 9 (5.6), and ERA (1.99). He used his high 90s fastball to go along with one of the best wipeout pitches in the game with his devastating curveball to create a name for himself.

He followed that very promising season with what ended up being a major disappointment in 2016. The past couple of seasons, Grimm has seen his fastball lose some ever-important velocity, with it now dipping in the low 90s. He has also failed to locate his pitches while giving up home runs at an alarming rate (2.0 per 9 innings) in 2017.

Coming into Spring Training Grimm really needed to show some improvement in order to make the Major League roster. He had an advantage over players such as Dillon Maples due to the lack of a Minor League option that could be used.

After a lackluster performance so far this spring, the front office decided that it was not worth keeping Grimm on board for a few weeks into the regular season. Instead, he was released and the team saves around $150 thousand due to Grimm’s non-guaranteed contract.

It appears as thought the team will move forward with Eddie Butler as the last man in the bullpen. Like Grimm, Butler also is out of options and will need to make the Major League roster to avoid being released, traded, or placed on waivers. Maples and his available options will more than likely be sent down to Iowa to start off the year, but not for long as he will be the first man called up.