Lucas Erceg

Kansas City Royals reliever Lucas Erceg bounced back on Sunday against the Minnesota Twins to earn his 12th save of the season. Unfortunately for Erceg, Alex Lange had recorded the previous three saves that week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. It's entirely possible that Lange was down on Sunday due to his volume the previous handful of days, but nonetheless, Erceg entered the ninth inning with one out to protect a 6-4 lead while inheriting a baserunner who had already doubled. He allowed two hits but preserved the save. His season line is not good, evidenced by his 6.00 ERA and 1.96 WHIP, and the Royals have started to look elsewhere for save opportunities, and fantasy managers should be doing the same. All signs point to Lange as the preferred option at this point; at best, it will be a committee, and Erceg does not have good surface numbers, making it hard to justify rostering him moving forward. In deeper formats where saves remain scarce, he can continue to be rostered, though with little confidence.