FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The last day of baseball's annual winter meetings is a jailbreak. Once the Rule 5 draft concludes, team officials pile into taxis bound for the airport. After four days under one roof, most can't escape quickly enough.
But for the Boston Red Sox, the end of the 2015 meetings meant the start of an organizational pitching summit.
Seeking to continue a conversation that began before he was hired four months earlier, team president Dave Dombrowski brought together manager John Farrell, pitching coach Carl Willis, scouts, player-development staff, analytics-minded ex-pitcher Brian Bannister, former Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek and Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez.