Reyes, Green together again

In a far-flung reunion, former Padres slugger Franmil Reyes and manager Andy Green found each other again in Chicago with the Cubs.

Reyes, who began the season as the cleanup hitter for the Guardians, was designated for assignment after hitting .213/.254/.350 with 104 strikeouts and 14 walks in 70 games this season. “Shoot, it’s baseball,” Green, the Cubs’ bench coach, said Tuesday at Wrigley Field before a game against the Nationals. “He’s put up (four) years of .800-plus OPS in the big leagues (actually, one of the four was .795). He’s hit in the middle of lineups consistently. He just couldn’t get on track this year. I know we’re excited to give him a shot.”

In parts of two of those big-OPS seasons, Reyes played for the Padres. In 2019, he was traded to Cleveland in a deal that landed outfield prospect Taylor Trammell — later flipped in a Mariners trade for catcher Austin Nola and others.

“Life is a roller coaster, you know?” Reyes said. “You learn from things and that’s what I’m trying to do. Delete this. Forget about what’s in the past and move on. I have a new opportunity.” The offensive struggles in 2022?

“I was chasing too many pitches out of the zone,” he said. “That was not me. I’m very good recognizing my pitches. When I’m good, I only swing at strikes.”

The Cubs put Reyes in the lineup Tuesday as the DH, hitting fifth.

“I always loved Franmil,” Green said. “That was a hard day when we traded him in (20)19. That really hurt the clubhouse. That was a tough thing to swallow for a lot of people in there. Understandably so.

“He has a huge personality and a huge presence in our lineup.”