I woke up at 3 a.m. and, since it was an hour too late to buy beer and I don't have anything better to do with my life, scrolled through tweets I'd missed the past eight hours. Somebody retweeted Inside SoCal Dodgers writer J.P. Hoornstra's tweet linking to his article which was ostensibly about Grandal being "blindsided" by being traded. While it's interesting that his wife found out about the trade on TV before they got a call from either A.J. Preller or Andrew Friedman, I was more drawn to his quotes about his time with the Padres. You know, so I'd know whether to just root against him like any run-of-the-mill Dodger I want to see strike out in every at-bat and commit an error on every play, or if he's deserving of vociferous, next-level derision the way Adrian Gonzalez is.
"The way I saw it, I went in and played 100 percent, gave them 100 percent every day I was there. I wanted to play and they knew that," he said. "They were really good to me. They supported me to the highest level. Josh Byrnes, who’s here right now, did a tremendous job. I have nothing bad to say about the Padres. The Padres were great with me, supporting me with the suspension. Getting me the right people to work on my knee when I got injured. Pre-operation and post. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about them."
Well, that was nice. He comes off as genuinely appreciative of his time in San Diego. He could have delivered a brief banality, or said nothing at all, but instead went into detail and repeatedly reiterated his gratitude. Even if he is just saying the right things to say the right things, that beats being an a'hole, right?
Grandal's kind words about the Padres certainly aren't to say he isn't happy to be where he is now, though.
Grandal said that the Dodgers are one of four teams he’s always wanted to play for, along with the Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs. "The four big teams with a history," he said.
Okay, I was trying so hard to be polite and even-handed, but hahahahahahaha