Mattingly downplays Harper's Deadline comments: 'Players like being GMs'

MIAMI -- Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly spent 14 seasons with the Yankees, and he experienced just about everything there as a player.

So, before a teammate might have said the Yankees need help before the Trade Deadline, like Bryce Harper said about the Phillies on Tuesday night at loanDepot park, there’s a good chance Yankees owner George Steinbrenner would have delivered that message to the organization and Yankees fans first.

“He would say, ‘[reporter], let me tell you about this right here,’” Mattingly said before Wednesday’s series finale against the Marlins. “I want you to write this story. And just rip the crap out of us. And it would cause a stir, and we would have hecticness going on.”

The Phillies lost eight of 11 games following the All-Star break, entering Wednesday. They scored one or zero runs in six of those games. After Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to Miami, Harper was asked about the team’s ability to beat good pitching in October.

“I think we need some help,” Harper said. “But you know, I think we've proved pretty much all year we've done a pretty good job. But anytime you can get some help in here and reinforcements, I think it helps.”

Mattingly took umbrage with Harper’s candor.

“I sense Bryce thinking about it,” Mattingly said. “I don't really sense anybody else thinking about it, honestly. I’ve been through this. Guys want to be GMs, what you need without a real understanding of where the organization is, exactly where this thing goes. Not only this year, but moving forward. So, I mean, players like being GMs and making calls and spending other people's money. So, let it go at that.”

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and general manager Preston Mattingly are expected to make upgrades before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline. Dombrowski has said a few times recently that there is plenty of interest in Phillies’ prospects and he has enough players to trade.

“Dave’s been doing this a while,” Don Mattingly said. “He's never really backed away from trying to get guys. We're trying to get better. You know, we're going to try to get better at the Deadline.”

Truth be told, Harper said what everybody already knows. The Phillies do need help. They need bats. They need arms.

“We haven't played great since the break,” Mattingly said. “That's factual. But you can't let that bother the next phase of where we're going. I liken it to the fact of what I've been saying, that you're saying that we don't like our players that are here, and I just don't … I think you're always trying to get better. You should always incrementally try to get better, no matter who you are. If you're the Dodgers, who won two straight [World Series titles], they're trying to get better in different ways. We're in the same boat, right? You're always trying to get better. But when you say something about our team, then you're saying something about one of our players that you don't like.”

Mattingly, however, said he feels no need to talk to Harper about it.

“I mean, Bryce is Bryce,” Mattingly said. “He's going to say what he wants, so I'm not really concerned about it. I just take it kind of with a grain of salt. And knowing how players are over the years, it’s not the first time I've heard this. You know, 'we need, we need.' I always look at it internally. You know, ‘I’ve got to get better. We’ve got to get better.’”

Harper said on Monday that he needs to play better. He has been struggling for the past few weeks.

“It's my job to go out and play and do my job,” Harper said. “And, obviously, in the last month, I haven't done my job to the best of my ability.”

Asked how he feels about the team, Mattingly said: “How do I feel right now about how we're playing? It hasn't been great. I feel good about our team. I felt that way the whole time, and I don't feel like anything that's happened to this point really says, you know, we're not going to be able to get this done. So I still feel the same.”

Mattingly said the players currently on the Phillies’ roster know they haven’t played well recently. They know they need to get better, just like those Yankees players knew they needed to get better.

“I think our guys would say that, right?” he said. “We’ve got to do better. We're capable of doing better. We're gonna do better, but we need to play better. I think our players would say that. Even when George did that, we already knew that, right? We already knew we needed to do better. You weren't playing good, but it just causes a stir, right? Whatever that does, that motivation, good or bad.”