Yasmani Grandal’s wife woke him up to inform him he’d been traded to the Dodgers. (Getty Images)

Yasmani Grandal said he didn’t pay attention to the trade rumors in the weeks leading up to the December blockbuster that sent him to the Dodgers.

He had a good reason. Maybe a couple.

For one thing, he was playing baseball in the Dominican Winter League. “I was having a pretty good time out there,” Grandal recalled. “By the time I got back, maybe a week into it, I remember my agent calling and saying ‘there’s about five teams after you. The Dodgers seem to be number one on the list.'”

For another, the Padres didn’t give any indication that they were going to trade him while he was in uniform — even after he was suspended 50 games for testosterone use in 2013.

“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.”

When Grandal was traded, he wasn’t paying attention then, either.

“My wife (Heather) was up early and I was sleeping on the couch because the night before I fell asleep on the couch for some reason,” he said. “She woke up and I had the TV on. She tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘I think you got traded.’ A couple hours later I got the call from (Padres general manager) A.J. Preller and (Dodgers president) Andrew Friedman gave me the call too and made it a little more real. It was definitely a very exciting day.”

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.

Grandal addressed his suspension, his role with the 2015 Dodgers, and his surgically repaired knee here.