Dan Jennings: I never had any problems with Fernandez

Jose Fernandez has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons this offseason, and that's surprising to former Miami Marlins manager and general manager Dan Jennings.

"As his general manager and then field manager, I had zero problem with Jose," Jennings said Sunday on MLB Network Radio. "He's one of the best competitors I've been around in 30 years, and to watch this kid as a rookie, when he burst onto the scene and won the Rookie of the Year, and then to see the unfortunate injury with the Tommy John, and the way he battled back through that ... wow his stuff was as good if not better than he featured the year he won the Rookie of the Year."

Reports surfaced earlier this month that the right-hander is "a little selfish at times" and "isn't the best in the clubhouse," which sparked trade speculation among the baseball community. Jennings stopped short of calling Fernandez selfish, but did acknowledge the young flamethrower certainly isn't lacking confidence.

"Like all good players, there's a level of confidence or cockiness, a lot of times the cockiness goes when guys are young, but I will tell you that in terms of him doing his work, and in terms of him being a good teammate, and being someone you look forward to watching every fifth day, he filled all those boxes."

Fernandez and his agent, Scott Boras, have also been clashing with the club over setting an innings limit for the 23-year-old hurler following his reconstructive elbow surgery. Fernandez tossed 64 2/3 innings last season following his July return, and could quite possibly be limited to around 180 frames in 2016, considering the precedent Matt Harvey, another recovering Tommy Johner, set last year.