Mariners' Tyler Locklear: Taking over as top first baseman

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The Mariners are expected to recall Locklear from Triple-A Tacoma this week to take over as the club's everyday first baseman, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.

Seattle is pulling the plug on incumbent first baseman Ty France, who was placed on irrevocable outright waivers Sunday. The Mariners may have to wait until France is claimed or clears waivers before adding Locklear to the roster in a corresponding move, so it's not immediately clear if Locklear will be available for Monday's series opener versus the Angels. In any case, Locklear will be back in the big leagues soon, and he should have a decent amount of leash in an everyday role as the Mariners look to him to provide a spark to a dormant offense. Locklear owns an .887 OPS over 334 plate appearances on the season between Tacoma and Double-A Arkansas and slashed .200/.250/.433 in 32 plate appearances with the Mariners during his first stint in the big leagues back in June.