When the Pirates dealt three relievers at the July 31st trade deadline, it looked like the rest of the 2010 season would be quite the adventure in the late innings. After seeing someone absurdly knock the Octavio Dotel trade because it hurt the bullpen, I decided to take a quick look.
| IP | ERA | FIP | K/PA | BB/PA | HR/PA | |
| April – July | 344.2 | 4.38 | 4.12 | 20.6% | 10.3% | 2.4% |
| August – September | 145.1 | 4.96 | 4.35 | 17.8% | 10.0% | 2.2% |
The bullpen has clearly taken a step back since the deadline, but not to a great extent. Relievers are striking out fewer batters since the trades, but they have also reduced their walks and home runs . Without looking deeper, that seems understandable with the removal of Dotel. Chan Ho Park (3.93 ERA, 4.08 FIP) and Chris Resop (2.04 ERA, 3.15 FIP) have done a fine job of replacing the production of D.J. Carrasco (3.88 ERA, 3.81 FIP), Javier Lopez (2.79 ERA, 4.18 FIP) and Dotel (4.28 ERA, 3.82 FIP). In addition, Wil Ledezma (6.38 ERA, 2.44 FIP), despite posting an ugly ERA, has delivered some of the best peripheral numbers in the bullpen.
