Dodgers trade candidate hoping deadline rumors prove to be ‘fake news’

“It’s all fake news.”

That’s the hopeful — and maybe wishful — thinking Alex Call has had to do over the last week.

A year after being acquired by the Dodgers at the trade deadline, the veteran outfielder has found his name in trade rumors once again this summer; only this time, as a potential departure from the two-time defending champions as they look to streamline their roster (and capitalize on inflated midseason trade prices) ahead of Monday’s deadline.

Call’s name was first mentioned as a trade candidate last weekend, when Fox’s Ken Rosenthal noted on the network’s broadcast of a Dodgers-Mets game that the right-handed-hitting role player could be rendered expendable with Kiké Hernández (another right-handed-hitting role player) returning from injury.

In the week since, multiple other reports have further fueled such speculation, leaving the 31-year-old in an uncomfortably uncertain position leading up to Monday’s deadline.

“I don’t know if it’s truth or speculation or whatever’s going on,” Call told the California Post on Saturday, one year and one day removed from his arrival in Los Angeles last season. “I don’t know. I’ve been trying not to think about it too much. But love being here.”

Indeed, Call described his tenure with the Dodgers — who acquired him from the Nationals at last year’s trade deadline to bolster their bench and round out their outfield depth — as simply “the best,” giving him the chance to play in the postseason for the first time in his career, contribute to a World Series championship last fall, and return this season as part of a bid for a historic three-peat.

“I mean, it feels like it’s been more than a year,” he said. “It’s been a tremendous experience.”

Granted, Call’s playing time has been limited, not even getting 200 regular-season at-bats in the last 12 months. And his production has been marginal, hitting .246 with three home runs, 21 RBIs, a below-league-average OPS+ of 94 and an 0.8 WAR, according to Baseball Reference.

Still, Call has provided the two main traits the Dodgers were expecting when they acquired him: Crushing left-handed pitching (.326 average, .875 OPS this year) and taking tough at-bats when called upon (he’s well above league-average in chase, whiff, strikeout and walk rate this season).

“To be wanted by the best team, it’s really cool, really validating,” he said, while thinking back to last year’s deadline. “And I’ve tried to just do my thing and continue to work hard and try to prove valuable to the team in whatever way possible.”

Call acknowledged initially being surprised by this year’s round of trade rumors, but understood his circumstances after he “put on my GM hat.”

After all, playing time will be even tougher to come by now that Hernández is back (he has gotten three starts over Call this week). The Dodgers have a deep crop of outfield prospects who will be pushing for big-league call-ups down the stretch this season (as well as a looming 40-man roster crunch this offseason, when several of them will have to be added to the 40-man roster). 

Perhaps most of all, right-handed hitters are in short supply at this year’s deadline, making Call (who is under team control through 2029) a potentially attractive addition to other contenders with holes in their outfield.

“I’m not overthinking it,” he said. “But if you just look at things, I mean, I guess you could make an argument a certain way or whatever. But you try to just play baseball and, again, make yourself valuable to the team in whatever role it is.”

Call said he has not heard, or discussed, anything regarding his status with the club’s front office — not even during a brief chat with president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman following a live batting practice session against Blake Treinen on Saturday.

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“No,” he said with a chuckle. “We were just talking about Blake.”

Manager Dave Roberts said he has not talked to any of the team’s potential trade candidates, either — a group that also includes pitcher Eric Lauer — but mentioned Call specifically on Saturday as someone whom he has struggled to find playing time for lately.

“He’s been such a great teammate,” Roberts said. “I love the player, love the guy. But I’m just trying to get Kiké back in the mix, and with what Miggy [Rojas] has done all year for us — there’s certain guys that play every day.”

For Roberts and the Dodgers, it’s all “part of the blessing and curse of having a really talented roster,” the manager noted.

But for Call, it has led to an unwanted waiting game as another deadline approaches.

“Just trying to keep going,” he said. “And then get past Monday and see what happens.”