White Sox designate E. Santana, reinstate Eloy

CHICAGO -- Ervin Santana's run with the White Sox did not last long.

After three starts, including his losing effort on Wednesday at Baltimore, the White Sox designated the veteran right-hander for assignment prior to the homestand and series opener against the Tigers on Friday. Santana, 36, struggled, going 0-2 with a 9.45 ERA and a 1.88 WHIP after his contract was purchased from Triple-A Charlotte on April 9. The Sox signed Santana to a Minor League deal as a free agent on Feb. 23.

“Frankly, we weren't quite getting what we were hoping for out of that spot in terms of consistency and we decided to make a change,” White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. “More often than not the fastball was a little too true, a little too elevated in terms of missing his spots and he paid the price for it.

“He still has the ability to get some swings and misses on the slider. But he couldn't really get himself in the counts or the position where he could exploit that on a consistent basis.”

When a player's contract is designated for assignment, that player is immediately removed from his club's 40-man roster, and 25-man roster if he was on that as well. Within seven days of the transaction (it was previously 10 days), the player must either be traded, released or placed on irrevocable outright waivers.

With the Santana move, dropping the 40-man to 39 players, Manny Banuelos takes over that particular rotation spot. The southpaw stretched out as a starter throughout Spring Training and he pitched effectively in that role, while having a spot start on Monday in place of the injured Lucas Giolito. Banuelos allowed five hits over four scoreless innings.

“He's been a strike thrower,” manager Rick Renteria of Banuelos. “He's actually been doing a nice job of keeping us in ballgames.”

“From our standpoint, we felt we were better served by giving Manny an opportunity now, see what we have there in terms of a young lefty who could potentially help us down the road,” Hahn said.

Robert back, Giolito soon

Outfielder Luis Robert, ranked as the No. 37 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline, returned to Class A Advanced Winston-Salem’s starting lineup on Friday after leaving early from a contest on April 20 with a sore left hand.

“It was towards the base of the thumb, just some tenderness from repetitive use so we wanted to back off a little bit,” Hahn said of Robert, who entered Friday hitting .475 with 12 extra-base hits and seven stolen bases. “Treated him up and now he's good to go.”

Giolito was placed on the 10-day injured list on April 18 after leaving in the third inning of a start against the Royals the previous day with a strained left hamstring. Hahn expects Giolito to return during this 10-game homestand, but if it’s later in the homestand, then the White Sox would have to employ a spot starter.

Jimenez pays tribute to his grandmother

Eloy Jimenez returned to the White Sox lineup after going to his hometown of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic following the passing of his grandmother and being put on the bereavement list on April 22. The No. 3 overall prospect paid tribute to Flora Sanchez, his dad’s mother, prior to Friday’s contest.

“It's not difficult because now I know my grandmother is at rest and my family is good right now, and if they're good, I'm good,” Jimenez said. “It was a little bit hard to say bye, but she's in my heart all the time.”

Jimenez also shared his favorite memory of his grandmother.

“One day I was at home after my first year here. I told her all the things that happened to me that year, all the bad things,” Jimenez said. “She said, 'You're going to be all right because you're with me and God.' Now I know.”

They said it

“Nothing has changed in terms of our expectation that at some point over the course of this season Dylan Cease will get his opportunity at the big league level.” -- Hahn, on MLB Pipeline’s No. 20 overall prospect