DETROIT -- After starting 45 of the Detroit Tigers' first 49 games in 2018, Dixon Machado has started only three of the last nine.
On Friday, Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire confirmed what was becoming increasingly apparent: The Tigers no longer have an everyday second baseman.
Machado will share the role with Niko Goodrum and the newly recalled Ronny Rodriguez.
"We're just going to play them all," Gardenhire said Friday. "We brought Rodriguez up for a reason. That's because he's swinging really, really good. We're going to play him out there. A lot."
All three players are 26 years old (in fact, all three were born within a 54-day span in 1992), but Machado has been in the organization for a decade while Rodriguez and Goodrum both signed as minor-league free agents this winter.