Daniels Remains a Dodger in Name Only Amid Trade Talk

In some ways, outfielder Kal Daniels has already left the Dodgers.

He has removed all of his clothes from his Glendale-area home. He has placed his car in a moving van.

He has returned to his hometown, in Warner Robins, Ga., to wait, and hope, for the trade.

“Yeah, Fred Claire (Dodger executive vice president) asked me to play first base, and yeah, I told him I would give it my best shot,” Daniels said during the weekend. “But I asked him to try and trade me first. I think I can still play the outfield. Somewhere.”

Daniels laughed. “I think first base was just a passing thought for Fred,” he said. “I don’t think Fred was serious.”

Sources said Claire is working hard to make that deal this week at the winter meetings. While most expect him to try to obtain a first baseman--he has offered Daniels to the Baltimore Orioles for Randy Milligan--it appears he will even take any sort of prospects for his once-untouchable power hitter.

Daniels became expendable with the acquisition of left fielder Eric Davis, which came one week after Darryl Strawberry suggested that Claire trade Daniels because he lacked intensity.

Daniels said that the irony of a trade would be that the Dodgers could use his bat in their young infield.

“To be honest, the Dodgers need help in that infield,” he said. “Eric and Straw can’t do it all for this team. But as it stands right now, that infield can’t carry its weight.”