The Cincinnati Reds made a few roster moves on Friday afternoon. The biggest one being that third baseman Eugenio Suárez has been activated from the paternity list (congrats to the Suárez family!) for the game tonight against the Chicago White Sox. Cincinnati’s bullpen will be a pitcher lighter as the corresponding 28-man roster move was to send right-handed reliever RJ Alaniz to the alternate site roster at Prasco Park. The Reds also announced that outfielder Nick Williams, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, has cleared waivers and accepted his outright to the alternate site at Prasco Park.
While it was certainly expected to happen, getting back Eugenio Suárez is big for the Reds this weekend. They are barely hanging on to a playoff spot and welcoming in the White Sox, who have the best record in the American League. On Saturday they will face off against one of the best pitchers in baseball, left-handed starter Dallas Keuchel, and having a strong right-handed hitter certainly doesn’t hurt the chances in a match up that will feature two Cy Young contenders.
For RJ Alaniz, he didn’t get into a game while he was on the Reds roster this time around. The good news for him is that in the process he was added back to the 40-man roster, and he did get some additional service time simply by being on the 28-man roster even if he didn’t play. Those days add up.
Outfielder Nick Williams was in limbo for a few days after being designated for assignment. The outfielder struggled at the plate with Philadelphia in a big way during 2019 as he was used mostly as a pinch hitter or late-game replacement. After hitting .269/.330/.446 in 2017 and 2018, Williams saw a disaster play out in 2019 as he hit .151/.196/.245 with four walks and 43 strikeouts in 112 plate appearances spread out across 67 games. In mid-August of 2020 the Phillies designated him for assignment and the Reds made the waiver claim. A month to the day the Reds also placed him on waivers, but he went unclaimed this time and accepted his outright to the Cincinnati alternate roster at Prasco Park.
With the assignment of Nick Williams to the alternate roster at Prasco Park, the Cincinnati Reds 60-man player pool is once again full at 60 players.