BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Surprised Samuel Wants to Stay

Juan Samuel, who surprised the Dodgers this winter by returning for a third consecutive season, said Wednesday that he also is surprised to be back.

Samuel said he came within hours of joining the Chicago White Sox before they traded for Steve Sax. But the White Sox didn’t contact Samuel until Dec. 19, the day he was required to tell the Dodgers whether he accepted arbitration.

“The guy from the White Sox said they had to check with the owner to finalize things, but the owner was in Arizona and couldn’t be reached until the next day,” Samuel said. “So I had to take the Dodgers’ offer. Boy, going to the White Sox would have really been great.”

Samuel said the White Sox were the only team besides the Dodgers that wanted him to play second base, though others wanted him to play elsewhere.

“But I told them all right away, I am not interested in moving from second base,” Samuel said. “So here I am.”

Samuel, who did not speak to reporters last season, agreed that his presence here was “strange,” but said he would not ask for a trade.

“It seems strange. Every year I don’t think I’m coming back, and every year I come back,” he said, laughing. “By this time, maybe we should work out a multiyear deal, you think? I’m already here, so I might as well stay here.”

Kal Daniels and Darryl Strawberry went through their first day of camp together without incident, if not as the best of friends.

“What has been said has been said, but it is not forgotten,” Daniels said about Strawberry’s remarks that Daniels should be traded. “You don’t have to be friends with everybody to play this game. They have a job to do, so do you.”

Strawberry did not quite agree with that thinking.

“You’re not supposed to have that type of approach, but I guess everybody has to do their own thing their own way,” he said. “I’m just going to do my job. I don’t care what other players think of me.”

Daniels seemed enthusiastic about learning to play first base, but said that if he did not show improvement there in a week, he would ask management to hasten a trade.

Orel Hershiser looked so impressive pitching batting practice, batter Eric Davis grabbed his shirt and shouted: “Hey, we are wearing the same uniform now, remember?” Strawberry said Hershiser already looks better than he looked at the end of last year. “He was only throwing half-speed, but the ball had great movement. Think what it will do at full speed,” Strawberry said. “Last year, his ball was more flat.” . . . Rudy Seanez missed workouts with lower back stiffness.