It's no secret that the Pittsburgh Pirates need additional help in the back-end of their bullpen.
Mason Montgomery was fantastic for the Pirates in 2026 after coming over from the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-team trade last offseason, and Luke Weaver is an established, borderline elite option despite struggling to the tune of a 4.96 ERA over 16 1/3 innings after the club acquired him from the New York Mets at the trade deadline.
Outside of those two, however, Pittsburgh is hurting for reliable arms who can step in and produce in late-game situations. Yohan Ramírez was the Pirates' second-best reliever behind Montgomery this past season, posting a 2.86 ERA and 10.8 K/9 over 85 innings, but he's been incredibly inconsistent throughout his career and has major command concerns.
Lake Bachar had a 2.57 ERA in 28 innings over 15 appearances for Pittsburgh, whom landed him from the Miami Marlins at the deadline this year, though he's a middle reliever more than anything.
The Pirates are going to need at least one, if not two, true high-leverage bullpens arm this offseason. Perhaps there's a splash to be made, though there's also an opportunity to land a bounce-back candidate via the trade market in Lucas Erceg.
Erceg's Background
A second-round pick by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2016 MLB Draft, Erceg was a third baseman before starting his transition to the mound in 2021.
He was later traded to the Oakland Athletics in May 2023 and made his big-league debut for the club that same season.
Over 88 appearances for the A's through the 2024 campaign, Erceg logged a 4.32 ERA with a 3.37 FIP and 10.7 K/9.
The Kansas City Royals later acquired him from Oakland at the 2024 trade deadline, and he went on to post a 2.88 ERA over 25 innings for them down the stretch that season.
In 2025, the right-hander finished with a sparkling 2.64 ERA across 61 outings totaling 61 1/3 frames.
2026 wasn't kind to Erceg, however, as he put up a 5.59 ERA in 48 1/3 innings for Kansas City.
Why Erceg Should Intrigue Pirates
The Royals, who finished with a 69-93 record this year, may be looking to shake things up this offseason.
Kansas City's bullpen finished with the second-worst ERA at 5.07, and while Erceg was one of the biggest culprits in that regard, there were plenty of issues at play for the unit.
While Erceg's 2026 season was easily his worst as a major leaguer, there were still at least a few positives under the hood.
The right-hander is still throwing hard (average fastball velocity of 97.2 mph) and he also generated plenty of weak contact, as evidenced by an average exit velocity against of 86.3 mph (94th percentile), barrel rate of 4.5 percent (91st percentile) and hard-hit rate of 36.5 percent (65th percentile).
Furthermore, Erceg's ground ball rate of 51.3 percent ranked in the 88th percentile (per Baseball Savant).
The main concern with him is that his walk rate went up to 14.0 percent (third percentile) from 7.2 percent in 2025 (65th percentile) and 6.3 percent in 2024 (77th percentile).
Erceg also rarely missed any bats with a strikeout rate of 14.9 percent (third percentile) and whiff rate of 20.9 percent (14th percentile).
His strikeout rate of 19.3 percent (26th percentile) in 2025 was rather poor too though, and yet he was still fantastic overall for the Royals.
As a result, the key for Erceg has to be regaining his command since he can still be incredibly effective without racking up strikeouts because of how frequently he induces ground balls while also rarely giving up hard contact.
Given his body of work over the first three years of his major league career, Pittsburgh should be all over Erceg if Kansas City makes him available.
The 31-year-old is under club control through the 2029 season, and frankly the asking price from the Royals shouldn't be all that high.
There's a clear path towards fixing Erceg for the Pirates, and for an organization that isn't likely to pay top-dollar for any free agent relievers, taking advantage of the trade market will be key as they look to shore up the bullpen.
With his prior body of work, Erceg would fit in perfectly next to Montgomery and Weaver as a set-up man who has a pretty high ceiling and would come cheaper than most of Pittsburgh's alternative options.
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