Apr 12, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Ricky Nolasco (47) throws the ball in the third inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

1)   Norv  Turner

2)   Marty Schottenheimer

3)   Steve Spurrier

4)   Joe Gibbs

5)   Jim Zorn

6)   Jeff Torborg

7)   Jack McKeon

8)   Joe Girardi

9)   Fredi Gonzalez

10)                  Edwin Rodriguez

11)                  Brandon Hyde

12)                   Ozzie Guillen

And now we can add Mike Redmond to that list .

It is a list of those head coaches/managers that have labored under an owner with the unfortunate idea that player decisions fall under the imperial fiat of the owner’s suite. The first five worked for Redskins owner Dan Snyder.  Marlins fans will recognize the occupants of slots 6-13.

Conspicuously absent from that list is current Redskins coach Mike Shanahan.  There must have been a serious come-to-Jesus meeting in Herndon, VA prior to Shanny’s first season, because from game one of his tenure, it has been crystal clear that all player decisions come from the GM and the Head Coach, not the owner’s suite.

Lots of Redskins fans attribute the sea change to three things:  Snyder maturing as an owner and taking cues from other owners; Snyder waking up and realizing the devastating effect his meddling has had on team morale and performance; and Mike Shanahan being the first head coach with enough juice to deliver an effective ultimatum to Snyder.

Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has had none of those three things enter his sphere of influence.  Last Wednesday’s rotation change between Ricky Nolasco and Jose Fernandez is now rumored to have originated from the owner’s box.

Utter folly.

By reaching down from the ivory tower, Loria risks alienating Nolasco, his agent, and any other players left over from last year. As a witness to the first years of Snyder’s involvement with the ‘Skins, I can say unequivocally that the damage wrought through the systematic destruction of the chain of command can take years to undo.

By continuing to behave in his childish, myopic pattern, Jeffrey Loria demonstrates that he still hasn’t had the moment of clarity in which he realizes that if he wants to be the owner of a winning ball club, he will need to stop acting like a spoiled six-year-old who wants to hog the ball and tell everyone what to do.

Be patient, Fish fans.  Usually, it doesn’t take long for whiny six-year-olds to get distracted and move on to another game.

Aug 14, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria (left) shakes hands with catcher Rob Brantly (right) after their game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Marlins Park. The Phillies won 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Nov 18, 2012; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on the field before the game against the Cleveland Browns at Cowboys Stadium. The Cowboys beat the Browns 23-20 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

There has been considerable wailing and gnashing of teeth here in Miami since the Marlins started their “Fire sale? what fire sale?” fire sale. Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante packed their bags for a trip to Detroit, and there were some grumblings and doomsayers, but the consensus was that it was an OK baseball trade.  As everyone now knows, the gloves came off in September, and now the Marlins are a team of triple-A prospects and platoon retreads with one gold-plated right fielder (complete with a 3-pound chip on his shoulder).

Back in August, we started writing about Loria and his inability to stay out of the locker room.  Last Sunday, Barry Jackson and Clark Spencer wrote in the Miami Herald about how Loria seems to be trying to channel Jerry Jones and George Steinbrenner with his practice of meddling with player decisions. Their contention is that Loria is meddling for money, not the altruistic goal of winning championships. I still say he’s got more in common with Dan Snyder’s early years with the Redskins and Frank McCourt’s entire tenure with the Dodgers. At least Snyder seems to have learned from his mistakes (RGIII’s knees notwithstanding). McCourt may be the closest comparison.

What Jackson and Clark either missed or didn’t point out is that Jones and Steinbrenner won, and no one gives a fig about motives as long as the wins are there. The wins aren’t there with the Marlins, and motives are becoming important. It’s getting tough to give Loria the benefit of the doubt. Perceptions and optics are clearly unimportant to Loria, and both remaining Miami fans are getting tired of David Samson running to the nearest live microphone to talk about how exciting the next season is going to be.

All is not gloom and doom.  There have been a number of positive articles from national-level writers that have taken a sober look at the prospects the Marlins picked up, and it’s looking promising. Yesterday, the club released the spring training invitee roster, and there are 71 players competing for a spot. Most notable is Christian Yelich, said to be ranked as the #4 outfield prospect when MLB.com announces its top 100 prospects tonight. We’ll see how long it takes him to get called up.

While the farm system is looking good, it may take too long to identify and promote the really good players, and Marlins fans will only see Giancarlo Stanton during interleague play, wearing pinstripes. There has been a rumor floating around that the MLBPA is considering putting pressure on Loria to raise the payroll, but as our fearless editor here at Marlin Maniac points out, if Houston has $10-15m less payroll than the Marlins, pressure from the league and from the MLBPA is unlikely.

For now, we’re stuck with a bad owner. These are the years that separate fans from front-runners.

Feb 2, 2012; Jupiter, FL, USA; Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen (right) talks with Marlins owner Jeffrey H. Loria (left) during spring training at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

As a Cuban-American I find it funny that The Herald would try to compare Mr. Loria to Fidel Castro. For the past 27 years I’ve listened to my family and friends who were born in Cuba and heard about their plight ever since Fidel took power. For the past 53 years Cuban-Americans have been talking about Castro jailing people for talking about what they believe in, murder, kicking people out of their homes, taking their land and so on. To compare Mr. Loria and Fidel is laughable at best. What is painful about this article is the rest of the facts that The Herald shows us.

The rest of the article is about how the fans feel about Loria and about the breakdown of the Marlins’ fire sale. What’s painful about this article is that this is another article about the trade, past fire sales, and the tax payers paying for the stadium. With that said, this shows us that baseball is still a big part of the Miami scene. We care so much about our team that we compare one of the worst men in history to a guy who runs a baseball team so he can make money to buy more of his bad art.

Mr. Loria is a terrible man for baseball, there is no hiding that. What he did to the Expos and what he is doing to the fans is downright evil. Would the Marlins be better off if Mr. Loria sold the team? I think so, but in all honesty no one can really see in to the future and tell us that answer. Would Cuba be better if Fidel never gained power? I can bring you 1,241,685 Cuban-Americans who say yes. However, is Mr. Loria as bad as Fidel Castro? Not even close.

April 14, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria before a game against the Houston Astros at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

I’ve also felt for a long time that the biggest impediment to long-term Marlins success is the habit that Loria has of getting involved in player-level decisions.  On several occasions, I drew a parallel between his behavior and that of Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder. Using this forum as a soapbox, I highlighted the reasons for Loria to step back and let Larry Beinfest make player decisions, and why it would help the ballclub reach the success that the players were fully capable of reaching.

I’d like to officially rescind my comparison of Jeffrey Loria to Dan Snyder.  It’s far too harsh a criticism of Mr. Snyder.  With this week’s detonation of the Marlins’ roster, Loria has put himself at the same level as Frank McCourt.

The last couple of days have shown unequivocally that the Marlins’ ownership does not have a shred of respect for the city, its fans, Baseball, or common courtesy.  I understand that the team is a business, and that decisions that get made are with an eye to a bottom line.  However, the moves this week cross the line from cold business to naked greed.

Newspapers from coast to coast are publishing articles condemning this trade (This one from Tom Boswell is one of the best). These are not cut-and-paste articles recapping the opinions of the Miami Herald, but original pieces that reflect the understanding of the writers of how bad this trade is for the Marlins, and for Baseball. There are petitions galore, and suggestions that Bud Selig should take away any possibility of Miami hosting the all-star game.

Realistically, there isn’t much that can be done.  Technically, the trade doesn’t break any written laws, but it certainly takes a flamethrower to any moral high ground that Loria might think he has.

It looks like we’re in for a long, painful road, Marlins fans.  We’re entering what looks to be like an era similar to what the Dodgers, Orioles, and Redskins have long endured.

Perhaps the baseball world will join together and ostracize Loria, and somehow trigger some dormant sense of fairness that he is suppressing.  He might wind up getting a cold shoulder from the other owners.  Bud Selig may feel that the Expos deal used up the last of Loria’s political capital, and this deal may prove to be a bridge too far.

I will be hopeful that this sorry episode comes to a rapid end.

April 14, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria before a game against the Houston Astros at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

September 11, 2011; Landover, MD, USA; Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder stands on the field prior to the game against the New York Giants at FedEx Field. The Redskins won 28-14. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE

In a presser a couple of days ago, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria promised that he would “figure out what went wrong and how to go about rectifying it. And we will.” As a lifetime Washington Redskins fan, statements like that are cause for a fog of despair and gloom to settle on my normally sunny outlook.  Y’see, I’ve lived through the Dan Snyder horror show.  When I see owners start talking about how they intend to “fix” losing teams, I can’t help but replay the litany of errors Redskins fans have endured since 1999.  In November of 2010, the Washington City Paper published a breakdown of some of Snyder’s somewhat colorful and checkered history in the corner office at Redskins Park.

When Earvin Johnson put together his dream team syndicate to purchase the Dodgers from Nemesis-grade owner Frank McCourt,  he made sure that a real baseball guy was part of the group.  Guggenheim Partners put up most of the money, but Stan Kasten is the guy that really runs the show. Snyder, lacking any experience in actual football beyond being a fan, has put together a master class on how to grind one of the most loyal fan bases in football into the dirt.  Over the period between 2003-2009, the Redskins have slipped in nationwide popularity from #6 to #17.  A hallmark of Snyder’s tenure has been his influence on roster decisions, mostly through then-GM Vinny Cerrato.  Sometimes it looks like Jeffery Loria is taking a page out of Snyder’s playbook, with arbitrary roster moves handed down from the non-baseball team of Loria and Samson.

For fun, here is a comparison of Snyder and Loria:

However, I urge caution and reflection before running out to the garage to find the pitchfork and that old torch.  There still isn’t a smoking gun that explains why so many of our starters and new acquisitions suddenly had back-of-the-bell-curve seasons. I’d argue that over the course of this season, the only actual disappointment/bad offseason move has been Heath Bell, and mostly for the weakness he’s shown in his slump. Seriously…blaming your catcher? In the meantime, Loria has cleared away some salary and traded away some bad clubhouse juju, and has put together a pitching staff that is starting to look very good. Aging rental player Carlos Lee is doing exactly what we’ve asked of him. Giancarlo Stanton is headed to the firmament, and will get there in a Marlins uniform.

Although Loria has made a number of moves that have seriously pissed off Marlins fans over the years, he’s Bush League in comparison to Snyder.