Reds claim RHP R.J. Alaniz off waivers from Mariners, place Robert Stephenson on IL

The Cincinnati Reds made a series of pitching-related roster moves over the last two days, beginning with the inevitable option back to AAA Louisville of Lucas Sims after his spot-start on Tuesday.

On paper, there was an obvious counter-move to the Sims option, and that was recalling the injured Zach Duke, which they did - along with a bevy of other decisions.

For active-roster purposes, that means Duke and Wandy Peralta are back to again give the Reds a trio of lefties in the bullpen, while Sims and Robert Stephenson are out. In the case of Bob Steve, perhaps that neck issue helps explain why he didn’t look so hot on the mound in his most recent outing, in which he allowed a pair of earned runs while needing 30 pitches to record 5 outs.

The Reds weren’t done, however, as they claimed RHP R.J. Alaniz off waivers from the Seattle Mariners, moving the injured Alex Wood to the 60-day IL to free up the 40-man roster spot.

Alaniz, 27, was tagged for 9 ER in his 4 IP with Seattle earlier this year in his first career big league action, and the 9 ER he allowed in 12.2 IP at the AAA level for Seattle this year isn’t much better. The Reds now mark his fifth organization, too, as he has bounced from Houston to Detroit, Tampa, and Seattle prior to being claimed by the Reds after going undrafted in the 2009 MLB Draft.

Alaniz does have a fastball that sits 94-95 mph, and relies exclusively on a near 50/50 mix of that with his slider. You can learn that from FanGraphs if you find him under the name he’s also gone by in his professional career - Ruben Alaniz.

Alaniz is set to report to AAA Louisville, where he’ll also soon be joined by another familiar name: Alex Blandino, who is set to join the Bats on Monday after being sidelined for roughly a year with a torn ACL, as The Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale reported today.

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