Fenway Park is currently a crime scene, and the man holding the smoking gun is still sitting in the front office. While the firing of Alex Cora was a desperate attempt to reset the culture, it did nothing to fix the actual rot at the heart of the Boston Red Sox: Craig Breslow’s catastrophic incompetence.

Let’s be brutally honest: Craig Breslow is a “lame duck” executive who has spent three years performing a clinical dismantling of a historic franchise. The Red Sox are 12-19. They are rotting in the basement of the AL East. And yet, the ownership group is actually considering letting this man navigate the most consequential trade deadline in a decade? It is organizational malpractice of the highest order.

Look at the “Masterclass” Breslow has already provided. He managed to alienate a franchise cornerstone in Rafael Devers by signing Alex Bregman without a phone call. He created a toxic rift that forced a Devers trade, and then, in a move that defines his tenure, he failed to even extend Bregman! Today, the Red Sox have no Devers, no Bregman, and no dignity. He turned a World Series core into a collection of “what-ifs” and underwhelming returns. His trade for Chris Sale was a joke, and his free-agent signings have been a graveyard of failed potential.

The Red Sox currently possess a roster of “Rentals” that every contender in baseball is salivating over. Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Aroldis Chapman, and Jarren Duran are all valuable assets. In the hands of a competent GM, these players could rebuild the farm system overnight. In the hands of Craig Breslow? He’ll probably trade them for a bucket of balls and a “player to be named later” who is currently a backup catcher in Single-A.

You cannot allow a man who is statistically likely to be fired by October to trade away the only assets that can save the future. Dave Dombrowski and Chaim Bloom were both executed after three seasons—Breslow is currently on that same gallows. Why are we letting him pull the lever on the way out?

Ownership needs to grow a spine. If the Red Sox aren’t in a playoff spot by June 30th, Breslow shouldn’t just be “on the hot seat”—he should be out of the building. Do not let the man who burned down the house try to sell the scrap metal. The future of Boston baseball depends on finding a leader who knows how to win a trade, not just how to lose a clubhouse. Craig Breslow is the problem, and the deadline is the deadline for his unemployment.