Ty France placed on waivers

SEATTLE — With the Mariners’ offense in a dry spell and the club now tied atop the American League West standings after losing a 10-game lead, shakeups were bound to come. The first landed on Sunday, when first baseman Ty France was placed on outright waivers.

“It’s definitely been a weird, hard day,” France said Monday afternoon before Seattle faced the Angels in the first game of a three-game set. “But at the end of the day, we’re all professionals and we understand it’s a business. They decided that this was what was best for the Seattle Mariners moving forward. That doesn’t make it any easier, but it’s a really good group of guys, and I’m very appreciative and grateful for every single one of those guys.”

France, who’s slashing .223/.312/.350 with eight home runs, remains on Seattle’s 40-man roster. He was not in the starting lineup Monday, with Dylan Moore playing first base in his place. While on waivers, the other 29 MLB teams will have a chance to claim him, which would put them on the hook to pay what is left of his 1-year, $6.775 million contract.

If France clears waivers, the Mariners can keep him on their roster or designate him for assignment and outright him to the Minor Leagues. Though due to his service time, France can reject the outright assignment and instead choose to become a free agent.

“He’s handling it as best he can,” manager Scott Servais said Monday. “Ty’s a pro. He’s played a lot of really good baseball for us over the years. He’s been a key part of our lineup, right in the middle of it oftentimes. But things happen; it’s a business.”

France, the Padres’ 34th-round pick (No. 1,017 overall) in the 2015 MLB Draft, came to the Mariners in 2020 — his second season in the Majors — in a seven-player trade that also brought Andrés Muñoz, Luis Torrens and Taylor Trammell to Seattle in exchange for Austin Adams, Austin Nola and Dan Altavilla.

In his first two and a half seasons with the Mariners, France hit .284 with 40 home runs in 315 games, culminating with a 2022 season that saw him hit .308 with an .846 OPS in the first half and make his first career All-Star Game.

In the past two seasons, though, France has struggled, striking out 200 times in 246 games.

“Obviously, I can’t put my finger on one thing; otherwise I would’ve fixed it,” France said. “But it’s been a rough year and a half. Obviously, if I could go back and fix it, I would. I’m going to continue to work and try to get back to where I was.”

On Monday morning, the Mariners made an official roster move, calling up Jason Vosler from Triple-A Tacoma. Vosler, who has started 54 games at first base for the Rainiers, leads the PCL with 79 RBIs and has hit 20 home runs.

Seattle also has Tyler Locklear, its No. 6 prospect per MLB Pipeline, in Tacoma, where he has an .887 OPS. Locklear, Seattle’s second-round pick (No. 58 overall) in the 2022 Draft, made his MLB debut on June 9 and hit .200 with two home runs in 11 games while France was on the IL with a right heel fracture.