Daniel Bard feels like the Red Sox bullpen is in excellent shape without any trades. (AP)

As ever, the Red Sox will spend the final days leading up to the July 31 deadline for non-waiver trades looking to upgrade in any way that they can. The team will look to address any weaknesses, whether by internal upgrade or through a trade. Yet even if there is a perceived strength of the club, the Sox will have no hesitation about reinforcing it.

After all, in 2007, the Red Sox had the best bullpen in the majors through the season’s first four months. Yet they still went out and made a deal at the deadline for Eric Gagne, believing that they would benefit by reinforcing a strength rather than risk having some of their relievers — most notably, Hideki Okajima, who was shut down for a couple weeks in order to rebuild arm strength towards the end of the year — run out of steam as the summer stretched on.

That being the case, one cannot dismiss the likelihood of a deal by the Sox to address any part of the team. That said, while virtually every team is trolling at this time to reinforce its relief ranks, the Sox find themselves in a fairly comfortable position, even with Bobby Jenks on the DL for the third time this year. While a trade for relief help cannot be ruled out, the Sox don’t feel like they need to go outside the organization to acquire an arm.

“It’s not really often that you can say leading up to the trade deadline that you don’t need anyone in the bullpen, but we really don’t,” said reliever Daniel Bard. “We have all the pieces covered. If you hand us a lead for four innings, we’re going to find a way to get it done. There aren’t many teams that can say that. Whether or not we add someone is still up in the air, I’m sure, but I think we can be pretty effective all the way through October with the guys we have out there.”

On the surface, the Sox bullpen has put up solid if unspectacular numbers. As a group, it is 15-11 with a 3.53 ERA and 24 saves. The ERA ranks 15th in the majors; the saves total, likewise, is middle of the pack (18th) owing to the significant number of blowout victories that the team has this year.

Yet other markers suggest a group that has delivered for the Sox with as much consistency as the team could have hoped for. The Sox have done nearly as good a job as any of avoiding bullpen collapses; the team’s relief losses are tied for the fourth-fewest in the majors.

Meanwhile, the relievers have the lowest opponents’ OBP (.298) of any team in the majors. They have held opponents to a .230 average (3rd in the AL, 9th in the majors), a .351 slugging mark (4th in the AL, 10th in the majors), a .649 OPS (tied for 2nd and 5th) while punching out 8.0 batters per nine innings (4th, T-8th) and striking out 2.7 batters per walk, a mark that is tops in the American League and second in the majors.

And then, a look at the individual components suggests that the Sox have accumulated the sort of depth that can give them some comfort about the ability to navigate the late innings.

Closer Jonathan Papelbon‘s 3.86 ERA may look similar to his 3.90 mark of a year ago, but his stuff has more often than not been overpowering this year, with his 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings being his highest rate since 2007, and his 1.8 walks per nine representing his lowest rate since 2008.

Bard, in the words of manager Terry Francona, “has been like a machine” en route to a Red Sox record of 21 straight scoreless appearances to drop his ERA to 1.90. He has either set up Papelbon by taking the eighth or he has come on to kill incipient rallies, stranding all but three of the 22 runners who he’s inherited.

Matt Albers has been tremendous as a second setup man. He is on track for career-bests in ERA (2.29), strikeouts per nine innings (9.2) and walks per nine innings (3.7). He has allowed just one run since June 4, good for a 0.48 ERA during that stretch.

Since a woeful start to the year led to a trip to the DL in early May, Dan Wheeler has been exactly what the Sox had hoped when they signed him to a one-year, $3 million deal. In 19 games spanning 21 1/3 innings, he has a 2.11 ERA, with opponents hitting .169 with a .470 OPS against him. He has proven capable of handling extended workloads, most notably in 2 1/3 hitless innings to earn a win on Monday in Baltimore.

Alfredo Aceves has emerged as a significant asset as a long reliever, while pitching well enough to occasionally inject himself into the setup mix. He has a 4-0 record and 2.64 ERA in 44 1/3 relief innings this year; he’s thrown the second most bullpen innings of any Sox reliever, behind only Bard.

The jury remains out on Franklin Morales, though the left-hander has showed the mid-90s fastball and swing-and-miss slider that convinced the Sox to buy low on him when the Rockies were willing to trade him in May. Since coming off the DL in late-June, Morales hasn’t given up a run and has allowed just one hit in eight appearances spanning 6 1/3 innings.

The emergence of Wheeler during dominating stretches by both Bard and Albers has resulted in a run of seven weeks of dominance. Since June 3, the Sox have made 112 relief appearances. In that time, the group has an 8-1 record, 2.31 ERA, 7.7 strikeouts and just 2.7 walks per nine innings. The Sox bullpen has converted each of its last 13 save opportunities.

It is a group that is pitching with extreme confidence.

“Like any bullpen, I think it starts at the back end with a closer and eighth-inning or setup guy. Everybody else pieces together,” said Albers. “Ace, Wheeler and me, we all go multiple innings, fill that role. And obviously there are two lefties (Morales and Randy Williams) out there, too. overall, I think it just matches up well.”

The result is that the Sox find themselves in a vastly different position from the one they occupied a year ago. Then, the team was scrambling at the trade deadline, trying to find a pitcher to reinforce a relief corps that ran just two deep (Bard and Papelbon). When the cost of relievers proved unacceptable, the Sox shifted left-hander Felix Doubront to the bullpen, hoping to find reinforcements from within.

This year, the Sox have Doubront (in the Pawtucket rotation) as an option, as well as other potential reinforcements in Kyle Weiland (though currently in the Sox rotation, he was a closer in college and could easily contribute down the stretch as a reliever) and Scott Atchison (in the PawSox bullpen) — among others — as insurance in Pawtucket.

The result is that rather than joining the majority of teams buzzing around for relief help, the Sox find themselves instead with an unusual wealth of options that has been, since the beginning of June, as good as any group in the game.

“We just have so many guys out there who can get us through that sixth or seventh inning who we just didn’t have last year. It’s huge. We’re throwing the ball really well as a group out there,” said Bard. “I think we’re pretty confident that when that phone rings, no matter what the score is, we’ve got a tie game, one-, two-run lead, you’ve got five guys who are grabbing their gloves and ready to go. That’s a good sign. We’re spreading out those stressful innings and keeping everyone fresh.”