"He's struggling and he's beating himself up," La Russa said. "I told him, 'I'm going to treat you more like a utility player for a while, where you don't wake up every morning thinking, 'Oh, man, it's all on me again.' It's an anxiety kind of thing because you don't feel real good about your game. You come to the park, maybe some days you play; maybe some days you don't and you come off the bench."

Greene admitted to feeling increasingly overwhelmed by his situation and did not dispute accounts that he has several times punished himself physically.

Several team members have expressed concern about the degree of Greene's self-punishment.

"That's the way it's always been," Greene said, referring to his condition's compulsive nature. "It's not rational. It's not something I think as an intelligent thinking human being. ... I understand the disorder of it. It just doesn't help."