Marlins' Mattingly fires back at Harper: Mind your own business

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly didn't much care for Bryce Harper's take on his club's offseason teardown, firing back Tuesday at the Washington Nationals star who recently said he was "very shocked" to see his division rivals unload Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and Marcell Ozuna.

"It's not really his place to comment on us," Mattingly told Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. "He doesn't really know what goes on over here. He may think he does, but he doesn't know what's going on over here, what the discussions are. He doesn't know our players that we know.

"Take care of your business and we'll take care of ours."

Speaking with reporters last week, Harper, the 2015 National League MVP, said he was surprised to see the Marlins, now under new ownership, dismantle one of the game's top outfields. Last year, though the Marlins stumbled to an eighth straight losing season, only the New York Yankees received more value from their outfielders than Miami, who watched Yelich, Ozuna, and Stanton, the eventual NL MVP, combine for an .887 OPS and 16.1 WAR.

"I was very shocked that they were going to let go of Yelich, Ozuna, and Stanton because that's one of the best outfields in the game," Harper told ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. "You can't say enough about what Stanton did last year, what Ozuna did last year, and what Yelich has done the last couple years.

"I thought they were a great team. I thought they just had to add a couple more pitchers and they would've been pretty dang good."

Now, with those three gone and Dee Gordon shipped to Seattle, as well, the Marlins are widely expected to be the worst team in the league this year. The Nationals, meanwhile, are projected to win 90 games, and appear destined for a third straight division title.