Elster’s Future Still Uncertain : Dodgers: They have until Monday to add him to the roster, offer him more minor league time or release him.

Kevin Elster was pretty sure he had had enough of grilled-cheese sandwiches and long bumpy bus trips through the humid South.

Now, he’s positive.

Playing shortstop for the Dodgers’ double-A San Antonio club the last two weeks, Elster has seen again the down side of playing in the major leagues--getting there.

“Needless to say, you have to search for good places to eat,” Elster said Thursday before a game in Shreveport, La. “It’s been OK. It’s not that long. One way or another I’m out of here.”

Elster, 28, is trying to prove to Fred Claire, the Dodgers’ executive vice president, that his surgically repaired shoulder is sound. Claire has until Monday to add Elster to the 25-man roster for a $500,000 salary, offer him more minor league time or release him.

But Claire remains undecided and Thursday said Elster will play one more game tonight in Shreveport. Mel Didier, the club’s advance scout, has been tracking Elster’s progress and reporting to Claire.

“In our evaluation, his shoulder is not 100%, but he has been able to play every day,” Claire said.

Elster has a different evaluation: “I don’t know what is taking them so long.”

When Elster was invited to spring training, it was believed that if he made the team it would be as a backup shortstop to Jose Offerman. Offerman is doing well offensively, batting .277 and .522 with runners in scoring position. Defensively, he is playing better than he did last season, but still makes errors that don’t show in the box score, such as not charging or diving for balls.

Elster, the starting shortstop for the New York Mets from 1988 through ‘91, has had shoulder surgery twice, during the 1990 season and after six games of the 1992 season. He has been trying to come back since.

He said he is sure of one thing: He won’t be on the bus tonight to Jackson, Miss., where San Antonio plays next.

“I’ll just get on a plane and come home,” said Elster, who lives in Huntington Beach.

*

Speculation that Eric Davis will be released soon, whether to make room for Elster or a minor league outfielder, remains strong. There has been talk in the organization since the end of April of either releasing or trading Davis, who is guaranteed $1 million this season and earns another $5,400 daily.

Davis has played well in left field and is 12 for 12 in stolen bases, but has struggled at the plate. He is batting .216 with only three extra-base hits in 111 at-bats, including one home run.

Eric Goldschmidt, Davis’ agent, said Thursday that he has talked with Claire but that Claire has not said anything that would lead him to believe the Dodgers will make a move.

“The media makes more of this than it is,” Goldschmidt said. “Eric will come out of it, hopefully with the Dodgers but if not, somewhere else.

“If they release him, who do they replace him with? I know they like a couple of kids in Albuquerque, but I don’t think they want to rush them.”

Claire said he is not trying to trade Davis. But he also said he spoke with Davis during the team’s recent series in San Francisco. Claire said if a move were made with Davis, it would not be because of his contract.

“Eric is giving his full total effort,” Claire said. “It’s not as though he hasn’t contributed, with stolen bases and good defense. He has not had the type of offensive production that we would like, (but he) is doing everything he can.”

Davis, 30, was traded to the Dodgers by the Cincinnati Reds for pitchers Tim Belcher and John Wetteland before the 1992 season. A power hitter, Davis has not been the same offensively since he made a diving catch during the 1990 World Series and suffered a kidney injury.

Releasing Davis would be difficult for Claire, who then would suffer the criticism of getting nothing out of the trade.

Of the outfield prospects in Albuquerque, Henry Rodriguez appears to be the one most ready to move up. But the Dodgers may look to their bench, where they have Mitch Webster and Cory Snyder.