Jeffrey Loria reportedly had his previous attempts to meddle with the Marlins lineups ignored by former manager Ozzie Guillen. (Marc Serota/Getty Images)

Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has alienated the team’s fans and the city’s politicians after following last season’s new stadium opening with a firesale of players. On Tuesday, Loria reportedly gave his players and manager reason to join critics after meddling in the Marlins’ starting lineup.

Loria personally called for rookie manager Mike Redmond to flip-flop starting pitchers Jose Fernandez and Ricky Nolasco in Tuesday’s doubleheaders against the Twins at Target Field, according to a Yahoo! Sports report. The move left Marlins players furious, according to three sources:

“He was embarrassed,” one source said of Redmond, who nonetheless claimed publicly the decision was an organizational choice. “He tried to fight it. He had nothing to do with it.”

This is not the first time Loria has tried to tinker with his team’s on-field product. Loria, one source said, also made lineup suggestions to Ozzie Guillen, the team’s previous manager. Guillen ignored them.

Loria reportedly wanted 20-year-old rookie pitcher Fernandez to pitch in the first half of the doubleheader when the temperature was expected to be warmer at Target Field. Veteran pitchers are often given their choice of which game they’d like to pitch in doubleheaders, and Nolasco had picked the day game. Temperatures ended up measuring 42 degrees at the first pitch of Nolasco’s start and 38 degrees for Fernandez’s night outing.

The Marlins own baseball’s worst record (5-17) and attendance has dropped dramatically after Loria traded off more than $100 million in players and payroll last summer halfway through the team’s first season in Marlins Park.

LEMIRE: Marlins at bottom of MLB Power Rankings

Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said the team will not discuss a contract extension with slugger Giancarlo Stanton this season. (Marc Serota/Getty Images)

Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said that the team would not discuss a contract extension with star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton until after the season.

“I dont think this is the year to go to Giancarlo with an offer. We have to let him play it out, let him feel more comfortable,” Loria said, according to The Palm Beach Post.

Loria spoke to reporters for the first time Monday since a shocking offseason trade with the Toronto Blue Jays in which the team unloaded shortstop Jose Reyes, pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle.

Loria’s comments aren’t exactly a surprise, as Stanton is under team control through 2016. But Stanton has been the subject of trade rumors since the Marlins’ payroll purge in November. Loria was asked if Stanton would remain with the Marlins beyond one more year.

“I don’t have any comments about that,” he said. “One more year? He will be here this year and I’m hopefully he will come here the next year. … I would love to see him be the centerpiece of this ball club. He’d the young giant in the ball club, but you can’t make promises in this game because strange things happen all the time.”

In just his third full season, the 23-year-old Stanton hit 37 homers last season in 123 games with a .969 OPS last year.

Loria also defended the team’s offseason fire sale, saying the moves were needed because the team was not in a position to immediately contend.

“It’s not a fire sale. You can call it a fire sale. It’s called hit the restart button because it didn’t damn work,” Loria said, .

“I understand the feeling, but I have no interest in endless losing and we had two years of that. I want to us get back to our winning ways.”

A group headed by former Florida governor Jeb Bush reportedly offered to buy the Marlins. (William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush tried to buy the Marlins from owner Jeffrey Loria this offseason, according to a source in a report by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

Loria has rejected offers from several interested buyers including the brother of former President — and Texas Rangers co-owner — George W. Bush.

Jeb Bush made a “large offer” to buy the Marlins according to the source. Another source said Bush’s group of investors included Venezuelan media owner Gustavo Cisneros.

Loria has come under heavy criticism since authorizing the trade of several high-priced players in a salary dump after opening a new stadium that included government funding.

A friend of Loria told Jackson that barring a health problem or change of heart, he does not want to sell because he loves owning a team. An unnamed, longtime MLB official said the league has long hoped an owner with deeper pockets than Loria would buy the Marlins.

In a stunning move,  the Miami Marlins reportedly agreed to a trade on Tuesday that would send five veterans, including former All-Stars Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson and Jose Reyes, to the Toronto Blue Jays for shortstop Yunel Escobar and a package of prospects.

The trade has since been criticized as another Marlins fire sale, with more than $160 million in salary being sent to Toronto. But on Wednesday, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria defended the trade in an interview with CBSSports.com, saying that the organization has “to take a new course.”

“We finished in last place. Figure it out,” a defiant Loria said.

Loria emphatically said he isn’t selling the team.

“Absolutely not,” Loria said. “That’s more stupidity.”

Loria took issue with the coverage and suggested selling the team’s veteran stars was the right course of action.

“We have to get better,” Loria said. “We can’t finish in last place. We finished in last place. That’s unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, the team is reportedly also looking to trade outfielder/first baseman Logan Morrison and starting pitcher Ricky Nolasco, according to Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post:

Several GMs expect #Marlins to trade Ricky Nolasco. Marlins also shopping Logan Morrison—
Joe Capozzi (@joecapMARLINS) November 14, 2012

The Yankees are interested in the 30-year-old Nolasco, reports Erik Boland of Newsday. One player the team almost certainly will not shop is 23-year-old slugger Giancarlo Stanton, according to MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro.