LAS VEGAS — Time to roll the dice. Major League Baseball’s annual winter meetings have convened here in Sin City, and 30 teams are hoping to hit the jackpot with moves that will help them beat the odds in 2019.

The Boston Red Sox roll into town as the Big Winners, coming off a 2018 campaign that left no doubt about their talent. Not surprisingly, President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski already has brought back much of his championship team for another go-round. Nathan Eovaldi was introduced officially Monday, the finishing touch on a rotation that stacks up with the best.

Eovaldi’s four-year, $68.5 million contract was announced last week. Talk shows in Boston criticized the deal, saying it was too much for a player who has already undergone two Tommy John surgeries and has had trouble with injuries throughout his career.

Yet it makes sense for Dombrowski to bring back the unit that went wire-to-wire this season.

He may have to stray from this philosophy when it comes to the back end of the bullpen. Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly are free agents, and there has been little talk about the pair coming back to Boston. The Red Sox already sport the highest payroll in baseball and will be hard pressed to match the money the two relievers could see on the open market.

It’s also important to remember that championship teams aren’t always built with an established, proven closer at the back end of a bullpen. The Sox four titles are a case in point. Two were built with longtime closers anchoring the relief corps, while two were not.

Kimbrel, who projects as a Hall of Fame closer, was Boston’s ninth-inning man in 2018. In 2004, Keith Foulke was brought in as a free agent to anchor a bullpen that struggled in the late innings the previous year.

But the two other recent Red Sox championships featured closers who had not been groomed for ninth-inning work. We all remember Jonathan Papelbon dancing on the mound in 2007, and his lights-out work to close out games that season. What we often forget is that he came up as a starter with Jon Lester, and was only thrown into late-game relief duty when Foulke began to struggle. He took to that role, and became one of the greatest closers in team history.

It just wasn’t mapped out that way.

Koji Uehara leaped into David Ross’ arms at the close of the 2013 World Series as the Red Sox celebrated their first home game World Series clincher in 95 years. Uehara became a fan favorite, a closer who worked quickly, threw with less-than-average velocity, and made opposing hitters look foolish.

Don’t forget that Uehara was no higher than fourth on the team’s closer depth chart when that season began. Joel Hanrahan and Mark Melancon were proven closers, but couldn’t stay healthy. Junichi Tazawa was expected to step into the role, but was more comfortable in the lower pressure of the eighth.

Uehara took the ball, excelled in the role, and never looked back. And the Sox won a championship.

As Dombrowski looks to make the Red Sox a contender in the years to come, he will need to add bullpen help to this team.

Yet there are a glut of relievers available on the free-agent market, pitchers who could step into late-inning roles. Even if they haven’t closed out games regularly before.

Kimbrel and Kelly were huge parts of the Sox championship in 2018. Their success will undoubtedly lead to big contract offers. While Dombrowski began this offseason by bringing back members of last year’s team, it might be wiser to go in a different direction when it comes.

Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.

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