TORONTO -- Jordan Romano, the Canadian closer with 105 career saves, has been non-tendered by the Blue Jays.

The beloved right-hander out of Markham, Ontario, has been with the Blue Jays organization for a decade. It has been a winding road for Romano, who was once a starter and even spent a spring with the Rangers after being selected in the Rule 5 Draft in 2018 before returning to the Blue Jays. He then developed into a reliever who was, at times, one of the best closers in baseball.

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This doesn’t close the door on the 31-year-old Romano returning to the Blue Jays as a free agent, but the club has chosen to let him test free agency instead of paying a 2025 salary that was projected at $7.75 million by Cot’s Contracts.

Reliever Dillon Tate was the only other player non-tendered by the Blue Jays on Friday ahead of the deadline for teams to offer contracts for the 2025 season. Erik Swanson, who will be a crucial piece of this bullpen rebuild, agreed to a one-year, $3 million deal with the club to avoid salary arbitration. All other players were tendered contracts, including Canadian reliever Zach Pop.

A year ago, this news on Romano wouldn’t have been fathomable, but Romano is coming off a tough season in which he hit the injured list twice with right elbow issues and eventually underwent arthroscopic surgery for a right elbow impingement. Romano posted a 6.59 ERA over just 13 2/3 innings in 2024, as he couldn’t outrun the recurring elbow issues that he’d stayed just out in front of in past seasons.

This has to be at the heart of the Blue Jays’ decision. The club and their medical staff know Romano better than anyone, so a significant portion of this decision has to lean on their expectations for Romano to have a full, healthy 2025. This organization has long loved Romano as a player and person -- John Schneider even managed him in ‘16 in Single-A Lansing -- so this move must be difficult for many involved.

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Moving on from Romano -- if he doesn’t return on a different contract -- deepens the Blue Jays’ need in the bullpen, too. That group ran thin in 2024, battling a perfect storm of injuries and unexpected down years from some of its staples. The Blue Jays need to add at least three legitimate big league relievers this offseason on top of the annual depth signings.

It’s very possible now that the Blue Jays’ closer for ‘25 isn’t on the roster yet, but Chad Green and Swanson represent the highest-leverage arms in the bullpen for the time being.

This is about the big picture of the Blue Jays’ offseason, and they’ll now need to use the money once earmarked for Romano to build this group out. Yes, the Blue Jays also need to add at least one significant upgrade to their lineup and find a partner for Alejandro Kirk behind the plate, on top of some smaller business, but they can’t allow the bullpen to be such a weakness again in ‘25.

From GM Ross Atkins to club president Mark Shapiro and the coaching staff, the ’pen was widely identified as a weakness in the wake of last season’s letdown, so the club is expected to be aggressive in that market and pursue trades.