The Cleveland Guardians, in an alternate universe, could’ve had Junior Caminero hitting in the heart of their batting order during the 2026 ALCS.
Instead, they’ll be facing off against him. Caminero is the best player for the Tampa Bay Rays, who welcome Cleveland to town with a spot in the World Series on the line.
Most notably in this matchup, though, Caminero did indeed used to be in the Cleveland organization. They traded him to the Rays, and he then blossomed into one of the best young sluggers in baseball.
It was a trade that at the time seemed minor but now looms as one of the costliest trades in recent memory.
The Guardians could overcome it by beating the Rays in the ALCS, but it won’t change the fact that Caminero’s 40-homer power isn’t a part of their organization, and that when they dealt him away, they couldn’t have fathomed how it would turn out.
Junior Caminero Guardians-Rays Trade Details
Cleveland traded Caminero to the Tampa Bay Rays in November 2021 for one player: minor league right-handed pitcher Tobias Myers.
Myers up to that point had reached Triple-A, and he had a 3.90 ERA combined between Double-A and Triple-A, to go along with strong strikeout numbers.
Caminero had just played that year in the Dominican Summer League. He put up a .534 sluggging percentage there, foreshadowing some of what was to come.
The DSL comes before even Rookie ball, though, and then there’s Single-A, High-A, Double-A and Triple-A. Caminero had a lot of climbing still to do, and many hitters get tripped up along the way.
The ironic post-script is that the Guardians kept Myers for eight months. They traded him to the San Francisco Giants for cash in July 2022.
Myers would go on to pitch some in the big leagues for the Brewers and the Mets, and he’s still around. But he sure isn’t Caminero.
Why Did Cleveland Trade Junior Caminero To The Rays?
The Guardians were taking a risk, but they wanted the pitcher who was a lot closer to the big leagues rather than the young slugger who had a long way to go.
On paper, it’s a lot easier to project what that high-minors pitcher will do in the major leagues than what the youngster in the Dominican Summer League will turn into.
Cleveland has also had a lot more success developing pitchers compared to hitters in recent seasons, so they might’ve felt Myers gave them the best chance to play to their strengths.
Still — it may have been worth it for the Guardians to recognize what is quickly becoming a cardinal rule in MLB — if the Rays want your player, maybe hold onto him and figure out why they want him so badly. Tampa Bay is right a lot more often than they’re wrong.
The Guardians didn’t yet recognize in Caminero a future heart-of-the-order MLB hitter. The Rays did.
So Tampa Bay gave Cleveland a pitcher they wanted in exchange for the potential phenom.
It turns out that the Rays were very right.
Junior Caminero Trade, Revisited: Why Guardians Sent Young Slugger To Rays