Dodgers Trade Davis to Tigers : Baseball: Outfielder, 31, would have become a free agent after the season. Claire cites the team’s emphasis on youth.

The road that led Eric Davis back home to Los Angeles took a sudden turn to Detroit on Tuesday when the Dodgers traded him to the Tigers for a player to be named later.

It was not anticipated that the Dodgers would re-sign Davis when his contract ends this season. The Dodgers have a number of outfield prospects they are eager to promote, and the trade is consistent with the club’s youth movement.

But the news came as a shock to Davis, 31, who has been working hard to regain the swing that brought him to the Dodgers before the 1992 season.

“I have mixed emotions right now,” Davis said by telephone from Pittsburgh, where he was told the news a couple of hours before the Dodgers took the field against the Pirates. “It’s just something that happened that I have to deal with.

”. . . I haven’t felt this good since 1990, before I suffered my kidney injury in the World Series (with the Cincinnati Reds). But I have worked hard the past year and a half coming back from that and the triple surgery I had last year, working through the things and playing extremely well. . . . Why it happened now, and why not earlier in the year, I don’t know.”

Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president, said the club was considering a move with Davis and had received inquiries about him from other clubs.

“We were one day away from Sept. 1 (when the rosters expand to 40) and we have several young, talented players,” Claire said. “Do you play a kid with a future or do you play a veteran who is going to be a free agent?”

Claire had obtained Davis from the Reds for pitchers Tim Belcher and John Wetteland. The deal reunited Davis with boyhood friend Darryl Strawberry, who in 1991 led the Dodgers within one game of winning the National League West.

But by the end of last season, Strawberry and Davis both had had surgery--Strawberry for his herniated disk and Davis for injuries to his hand, wrist and shoulder. The two combined to hit only 10 home runs and played in 119 games last season as the Dodgers finished with the worst record in the major leagues, 63-99.

Davis was re-signed by the Dodgers for this season for $1 million plus an additional $5,494.51 for each day he was on the active roster, which he has been on all season.

After a dismal performance in May, after Davis batted .172, Claire considered releasing him, according to a source. Instead, Claire continued to help Davis--who said he was suffering from too many instructors--by having him work with former Dodger Reggie Smith. Davis batted .223 in June, .276 in July but only .214 in August. He leaves the Dodgers after batting .234 with 14 home runs, 17 doubles and 53 runs batted in in 108 games. He led the team with 33 stolen bases.

Davis is in his ninth major league season. Through Tuesday, the Tigers had won eight of their last 10 games and 11 of their last 14 to pull eight games over .500.