CHICAGO -- The Twins placed catcher Jason Castro on the 10-day disabled list with a slight tear to his meniscus in his right knee before Saturday's game and selected the contract of fellow catcher Bobby Wilson to take his spot on the 25-man roster. To make room for Wilson on the 40-man roster, right-hander Ervin Santana was transferred to the 60-day DL.
Castro had been dealing with knee soreness for several weeks and was held out of the lineup on Monday and Tuesday in the hope that the soreness would subside. But he aggravated the injury during his last at-bat on Friday and he was placed on the DL as a result.
"You never want to go on the disabled list if you can help it, but at the same time, I want to do what's smart for me, but I also want to do what's smart for the team and not try to fight through something and not be available and have one guy on the bench for any sort of time," Castro said. "I think at this point this is probably what's best."
The slight tear is not considered a serious injury and Castro is not expected to need surgery. He'll receive a cortisone shot to reduce some of the swelling and soreness in his knee, but the hope is he could return once eligible on May 15.
"Nothing we need to worry about surgically, we're just going to try to calm that thing down, probably inject it today, from what I've heard," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "Hopefully, when he gets those 10 days under his belt, he'll be a lot better and will be ready to come back and help us."
With Castro out, rookie Mitch Garver is expected to get a bulk of the playing time behind the plate. The 27-year-old entered Saturday hitting .250/.289/.472 with two homers and three RBIs in 13 games.

"We all believe he's invested a lot of himself to try to improve all aspects of his game," Molitor said. "He'll get a little bit more of an opportunity, [and] I'm sure we'll get to see Bobby Wilson in there a couple of games, too, especially with the day games following night games."
The decision to shift Santana to the 60-day DL doesn't affect his potential return date, as he's eligible to come off the DL on May 28 and remains on target to return in early June. Santana, who had surgery in early February to have calcium deposits removed from his right middle finger, threw his second bullpen session on Friday.
"When you do the math on his outings, the best-case scenario -- and that would be minimizing his live BP sessions and all these other things that he probably needs to do to force him to get back early -- at most it's a couple of days difference," Molitor said. "I don't have any hesitation to think that's the right thing to do. I don't really think it's going to cost us. Realistically, if we do everything we want to do with him before he's ready to pitch for us, it's going to take him into that first week of June anyway."
Worth noting
• Twins center fielder Byron Buxton hit on the field but didn't do any running on Saturday to test his hairline-fractured left big toe. He also hasn't been told if he'll need a rehab assignment, but said he's hopeful he'll be able to return without playing in the Minors.
• Third baseman Miguel Sano has yet to progress to full baseball activities after suffering a strained left hamstring on April 27. He's been able to throw without any issues but hasn't run yet. Sano is eligible to return from the DL on Tuesday in St. Louis, but a return in Anaheim on Thursday appears more likely.
• The Twins held a team meeting before the game, but it was a fun one, as they showed a video of Eduardo Escobar's first home run against the White Sox on Friday and compared his hop out of the box to a person hopping while riding a horse. Escobar's nickname is El Caballo, which is Spanish for horse. He said it was a Sammy Sosa hop, but his teammates couldn't help but make fun of him for it.

"Today was a funny meeting," Escobar said. "Everybody smiled, you know. I was surprised when I saw the video. The video was a really, really, 'Caballo time.' So it's a funny video. Funny meeting."