But the White Sox decision to send away a player many had pegged to start in center field on Opening Day did come as a bit of a surprise. It was surprising from the perspective of the White Sox in that this move, coupled with Charlie Tilson’s injury, would seem to signal the team is planning to head north with both Leury Garcia and Jacob May. It’s surprising from the Rays’ perspective in that it showed a team wanted Bourjos.

The deal in and of itself amounts to little more than the Rays jumping to the front of the line in the waiver order. Tampa needed outfield depth in the wake of Colby Rasmus’s injury that will see the outfielder start the season on the disabled list and apparently had their sights set on Bourjos to fill that role. The White Sox, conversely, made a decision to go with youth and, instead of cutting Bourjos, sent him to the Rays for the oft-traveled cash.

We’ll likely have a more firm idea of what the White Sox are planning in coming days — maybe Tuesday morning when the trade is announced — but unless there’s another move in the works, one should be able to logically assume that both Garcia and May will break camp with the Sox, given that they’re the only two players left in camp who can play center field.

The logic behind turning the page from Bourjos is sound. The White Sox talked a big game all winter about going all-in on this rebuild and, while the outgoing player in the deal isn’t one that’s going to turn any heads, the decision to turn the position over to this duo, either one or both, is one you could adequately describe as bold.

Garcia is the more well known of the pair. He’s garnered 331 plate appearances across parts of four seasons with the Sox since hew as acquired for Alex Rios in August 2013. His career line of .188./.225/.237 and 31 percent strikeout rate leaves one starving for optimism. He’s struggled to hit through a vast majority of his minor league career, but has been fine at Triple-A during his stints there the last two seasons. Now 26, the chances of him being a major league contributor are slim.

May is a bit more of an enigma. The 25-year-old has also struggled with the bat throughout his career, and went .266/.309/.352 in 321 plate appearances during his first go at Triple-A a year ago. But at the very least, his glove should play, and the White Sox apparently couldn’t ignore the way he’s hit this spring. In fact, both Garcia and May have done almost identically well, with the former hitting .339/.355/.424 and the latter .339/.361/.525. It’s impossible to overstate how little spring stats matter — May put up similar numbers a year ago before his lackluster Triple-A season — but the difference, of course, is that the White Sox have far less at stake this time around. So long as the White Sox are confident May can handle the successes or likely failures that come with a major league job, it’s a shot worth taking.

The smart money is on neither Garcia nor May being major league contributors at any point. Garcia is a non-prospect and May is heading down that road — he’s not mentioned anywhere in Baseball Prospectus’ system write-up and is ranked No. 26 in the White Sox system by MLBPipeline.com. Likewise, while Tilson’s health has been a concern since virtually the first moment he donned a White Sox uniform, it’s entirely possible he’s back in the mix within a few weeks and one or both are back in the minors.

But in a season that was lost before it started, there are worse decisions that can be made than giving the likes of those two opportunities ahead of 29-year-old journeymen.

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Speed is the name of Tilson’s game. He only managed four home runs last season in 100 games in the absurdly hitter-friendly PCL. For him to be worth anything, he needs to be able to run like a young Scott Podsednik or else he will be lucky to look like an old Scott Podsednik. Tilson tearing his hamstring in his first game with the Sox last year was incredibly bad luck and it looks like he’s yet to fully recover from it.

When news of the stress reaction in his foot broke (apologies for the pun) earlier in spring training, I was reminded of a condition in race horses called catastrophic breakdown. The basic gist of it is that one of the numerous small bones in a horse’s leg breaks or is weakened, resulting in increased strain on the rest of the legs ultimately ending in broken legs that will never be able to heal. Think of Jake Peavy’s torn lat coming from his altered mechanics after spraining his ankle. Think of Brett Lawrie’s entire existence up to this point.

The team fully shutting Tilson down at this point is the best possible thing for Tilson’s health and career at this point, but it’s not painting the prettiest picture for the rest of his career. Stress reactions can rapidly become stress fractures, turning plus speed into mediocrity with alarming quickness. Tilson’s life as a baseball player isn’t quite in its third act just yet, but it’s closer to being there than it was a month ago.

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Tilson came into camp the presumptive center fielder, and while his injury isn’t likely to have much of an impact on the win-loss projections for the White Sox, it’s frustrating for two specific reasons. Tilson, who went to nearby New Trier High School, was given an opportunity he might not have been afforded in another organization with more established outfielders or with an eye toward contention. We don’t know if this was the case, but one could envision a scenario where Tilson was so eager to prove himself and that he belonged in this role the White Sox saw him taking that he was rushing his recovery. When you’re so close to your dream, the short-term goal of trying to ensure it isn’t taken from you often outweighs the risks involved.

From a team perspective, sure, Tilson’s injury isn’t likely to have much of an impact on how many games the White Sox win in 2017. But Tilson, along with the likes of Omar Narvaez and Matt Davidson, offers an unknown element that is worth keeping an eye on throughout the season. The continued progression of Tim Anderson and Carlos Rodon is important, sure. As is the trade value of the number of veterans who may be on their way out. But the opportunity to see the unknown commodities get an extended look was always going to be one of the more important things to watch for this season.

If Tilson is out for an extended period of time — and at this point, until we hear otherwise that’s what I’m going to assume — one can reasonably assume the starting center fielder job will be handed to Peter Bourjos and his career 89 OPS+. Bourjos has a sterling defensive reputation and will need to live up to that while presumably sandwiched between Melky Cabrera and Avisail Garcia, but two weeks from his 30th birthday, offers absolutely zero in the form of promise or relevance to the next good White Sox team.

From a roster building perspective, if Tilson starts the season on the disabled list it does create another decision that will have to be made. The White Sox don’t have another super obvious center fielder candidate on the roster behind Bourjos — who would still need to be added to the 40-man roster — making someone like Leury Garcia, who does have center field experience, more likely to make the roster over someone like Yolmer Sanchez.

2. It’s difficult to overstate how damn cool it was to see Jose Quintana in the national spotlight after cruising through 5 2/3 no-hit innings in the World Baseball Classic Saturday.

The fact that Colombia ultimately lost the game to the United States befit something we’ve come to expect out of Quintana — completely dominate and end with a loss or no decision — and despite the fact that Quintana and Colombia were unable to advance past the first round, he clearly made an impression.

“This could be one of his best games in professional baseball, not only for his value, because he was representing his country, but what he did with his pitching,” said Colombia manager Luis Urueta.

“The only way to focus was to feel the country behind me clapping for me, and with a big dream such as tonight, that’s what gave me the desire to try to keep the game close,” said Quintana.

3. The White Sox had one of the more bizarre days of Spring Training one can think of on Sunday. In a day-night split-squad doubleheader, the White Sox scored eight runs or more in an inning in both of them. During the early game, a 10-8 loss to the Rangers, the Sox put up all eight of their runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. And in the night cap, they trailed 3-1 entering the ninth inning against the Dodgers and scored 14 runs in the top of the ninth, batting around twice, and ultimately won 15-5. Good lord.

4. The White Sox made their first cuts of Spring Training on Friday. None were particularly surprising, but the headliner was Zack Collins, who went 3-for-8 with a double, two walks, three strikeouts, and — surprisingly — two stolen bases in his limited action. Rick Renteria told reports he liked what he saw out of Collins in his brief time with the major league club.

“He got here, was real comfortable with the pitchers right out of the chute,” Renteria said. “He started receiving a little easier. … Good position behind the plate, was sticking a lot of pitches during the game he was playing in. He was standing in the box with a lot of comfort. He’s a very confident hitter. I thought he handled game-calling pretty well too.”

The other players reassigned were Courtney Hawkins, Spencer Adams, David Holmberg, and Brian Clark.

5. Michael Kopech made his second start of the spring in the aforementioned Sunday split against the Rangers. Three pitches into the start, he was trailing 1-0 after a single, stolen base, error on said stolen base, and RBI double. But he settled down, finishing that inning by striking out the side and wound up going 3 innings, giving up three hits, one run, and striking out four.

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With all of these caveats in mind, it is a good thing that Carson Fulmer pitched two successful innings against what is basically the Dodgers’ A lineup minus the injured Adrian Gonzalez.  It is a positive that Miguel Gonzalez is able to come out of the gates healthy, and that Zack Burdi pitched a 1-2-3 inning in his first appearance of the year.  But really, the biggest positive of all is that the days are getting longer again, and we are that much closer to real baseball.

Odds & Ends:

• The front office unequivocally named Charlie Tilson as first in line for the center field job.  Not long after, Tilson experienced a setback in his recovery from his massive hamstring injury, and although the timetable doesn’t impact his Opening Day readiness on its face, it casts doubt on how much playing time can be expected from him.  Now center field is as chaotic a spot on the roster as ever.  Peter Bourjos got the start in game one, but came off the bench in favor of Jacob May against Colorado.  If you’re looking for something to follow from day-to-day, this could be of some interest should Tilson’s recovery further stall.
• Brett Lawrie is still making sure he is 100% before returning to full duty.  Lawrie has an extensive injury history, and what sounded like a minor issue last year wound up cascading and wiping out the bulk of his season.  Unlike the outfield, however, unless and until some more trades happen, the infield picture is quite clear, as the White Sox actually have credible fallback options on the dirt in case of injury.  The biggest hope here is that Lawrie gets himself healthy and mashes out of the gates in order to boost his trade value.
• David Robertson has also already thrown an inning without issue.  Even more than Lawrie, the White Sox stand to benefit significantly if he can demonstrate to potential trade partners that he has recovered from his knee injury and is still the quality reliever he has been for years.
• After months of talking about the inevitability of a Jose Quintana trade, it was somehow jarring to tune in on Sunday and see Quintana take the mound in a White Sox uniform.  While the organization’s strategy is now clear, there are myriad ways that 2017 could play out.  Not a lot of scorched earth rebuilding teams have a pitcher of Quintana’s caliber to run out there every fifth day.  Given the rest of the roster, he may have a lot more hard luck losses and no decisions in his future until he gets dealt to a contender.

The White Sox did plenty to put themselves in this position, things that have been reiterated in this space on several occasions. Among those mistakes — and I won’t say whether it’s the most important mistake or second most important mistake or 11th most important mistake, you can decide that for yourself — was their lack of depth.

You see, when a team’s chosen course of action is to plug holes with highly volatile veterans — the Austin Jackson or Justin Morneau types, or the Dioner Navarro types or even the Brett Lawrie types — having players who can fill in when, inevitably, they’re needed because of injury or ineffectiveness, is pretty danged important.

Failing to employ above-average starters was obviously a big factor in the White Sox downfall, but failing to build up their roster and minor league system with players capable of stepping into a big league role and providing even replacement-level production has also an obvious hinderance.

Fast forward to present day and a White Sox team that is expected to be bad, instead of being unexpectedly bad like we’re used to, and depth is still important, just for different reasons.

The 2017 season isn’t important for the White Sox in terms of wins and losses, but it’s still important in terms of development. Sticking to the development timeline for the plethora of prospects is key, and having warm bodies who can serve as placeholders able to hold down a major league job is integral in not forcing the White Sox hand into an early promotion.

Of course, that would prove moot if Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Yoan Moncada or others do prove to be major league ready relatively soon. All three have already seen action in the majors. But until they are ready, whether it’s June or September or 2018 or beyond, the White Sox need guys who can fill those holes.

They don’t need to fill them well, mind you, since, ya, know, winning doesn’t matter. But if James Shields is struggling to get through three innings without giving up five dingers, or Derek Holland breaks again, or Jose Quintana is traded, guys need to step in and provide any number of the 1,458-plus innings the White Sox will play this season.

That’s where the likes of Chris Beck, Dylan Covey, Giovanni Soto and others will come in, and why Yolmer Sanchez, Leury Garcia, Alfredo Gonzalez, Peter Bourjos, and Rymer Liriano actually, in some small way, matter.

It’s highly unlikely any of those guys will be meaningful contributors on the next White Sox contender, but they’re “bridge the gap” guys between now and then. And whether or not they’re able to do just that will likely impact, however minute, the White Sox ability to stick to their timeline and rebuild in a meaningful way.

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As you might imagine, a player coming off his age-29 season being available for a minor league deal probably isn’t rattling off one All-Star appearance after another. Bourjos broke in with the Angels in 2010 as an excellent defender in centerfield with the potential to maybe hit one day. The very next year, he hit an excellent .271/.327/.438 with a league-leading 11 triples, and all of a sudden people started wondering if he could be a plus bat while playing great defense at a premium position.

Sadly, his glove and bat would both deteriorate for a long enough period of time that…well, here he is. For a rebuilding team, however, he makes a lot of sense. Barring change, Charlie Tilson is clearly Plan A for center field, as it remains to be seen whether he can be a good fourth outfielder or a second division starter.  But, as we have learned, people get hurt, and specifically Tilson has gotten hurt in very recent memory.  It also provides another layer of insulation between such an injury and the need to call up Adam Engel or Jacob May, both of which could use at least another half season in the high minors and possibly more.

The priority for a rebuilding team is making sure they can evaluate and maximize the development of their pieces that will be significant going forward, and to hoard as much value as possible. Part of that is making sure that your pitching staff has a competent defense behind them so as not to sabotage their confidence.

Bourjos provides a backup plan at all three outfield spots such that if Lucas Giolito or Carson Fulmer gets a fly ball into the gap that should be caught, it probably will be. That’s a good thing and costs basically nothing.

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