Besides setting up a meeting with Harding and treating Daniels' physical problems, the Dodgers could do little but hope he snapped out of it.
"Dr. Harding wanted to know if I wanted to talk," Daniels said. "I told him I was fine."
His frustration peaked with a week remaining in the season, when he was thrown out of a game with the San Francisco Giants for arguing a strike call in the first inning.
It was that incident that might have prompted Darryl Strawberry to suggest that Daniels be traded.
"I lost my temper, it was wrong, and I'm sure the way I felt had something to do with it," Daniels said. "I was carrying a big burden. I dealt with it as best I could."
Once he returned home after the season and discovered that his mother was feeling better and his family had calmed, that burden was lifted.
Just in time to hear about Strawberry's quotes.
Although Daniels has acted reasonably friendly toward Strawberry--he even waved his cap at Strawberry after Strawberry had hit a home run Wednesday against the New York Mets--he has not forgotten that Strawberry wanted him traded.
He has not forgotten because, he says, he has not been allowed to forget.
"I come to camp with a good attitude, preparing for my best season ever, and yet I keep getting the Strawberry thing thrown in my face," he said.
Daniels said he gets irritated when newspapers quote Strawberry about Daniels' attitude, or Daniels' play at first base.
"All of a sudden it's like, everything I do has to be OK'd with Strawberry?" Daniels said. "Just because he said some things about me? That really irritates me."
When asked about their relationship, Daniels shrugs and says: "We get dressed in the same room together. But he'll have no problems with me."
As hard as it was to continue playing with Strawberry, it was also hard for Daniels to stomach the switch to first base. He acknowledges that when Claire approached him with the idea, he thought it was a joke.
"I thought they were just snowballing me because I was out of position," Daniels said. "I told Fred, 'I'll be serious about it, but only after you guys show me you are serious about it.' "
The Dodgers are serious enough about it to point prospect Eric Karros toward Albuquerque so Daniels can take the position. Daniels has responded by playing well enough to warrant an opening-day start.
But he's still not sure he loves it enough to stay there. Or stay with the Dodgers.
Because he wants to be closer to his family, it is doubtful he will be here after this season, when he will become a free agent. He could be traded sooner.
"I can play first base, but do I want to be a first baseman?" he asked. "That much, I still haven't decided."
He smiled.
"I guess sometimes a man has to stoop before he can walk," he said. "I can handle that. Sometimes, I think I can learn to handle anything."
