"Just days after Marlins special assistant Jeff Conine made unflattering remarks about Hanley Ramirez, the shortstop fired back with sharp words of his own, calling Conine a "chicken" and saying his motivation now is to supplant the former player as "Mr. Marlin."

"I think he wants to be Mr. Marlin forever," Ramirez said of Conine, who was given that moniker during his eight seasons with the team. "It won't happen. I'm coming, baby. I think I'm going to be Mr. Marlin. That's my goal now. I wasn't thinking about that [before Conine's comments]."

While being interviewed on Dan Le Batard's show on 790 The Ticket last week, Conine said that, if it was up to him, he would trade Ramirez and gets frustrated with the shortstop "on a nightly basis."

"I think there are some nights where he doesn't try as hard as he should," Conine said, adding that he doesn't think Ramirez respects the game enough.

Ramirez said Wednesday that Conine should have spoken to him privately instead of airing his opinions about him on the radio.

"If he's got a problem, just come over and talk to me like a man," Ramirez said. "Don't be a chicken, talking on the [radio], because whatever you say is going to stay out there."

Asked if he gets along with Conine, who is a special assistant to Marlins president David Samson, Ramirez replied: "I used to, yeah."

Ramirez said he was surprised with the timing of Conine's comments, and that he thinks he is being unfairly labeled as someone who doesn't care or try hard enough."