The Cleveland Guardians made a trade in November 2021 that’s looking worse by the day. They sent teenage prospect Junior Caminero to the Tampa Bay Rays for pitcher Tobias Myers.
Caminero just crushed 45 home runs for Tampa Bay in 2024 and dominated in the World Baseball Classic for the Dominican Republic.
Meanwhile, Myers? He’s already on his third organization.
Cleveland originally signed Caminero out of the Dominican Republic in 2019 when he was just a teenager. After the COVID year disrupted prospect development, he posted a .534 slugging percentage in the Dominican Summer League in 2021.
That’s where things get interesting. Instead of promoting Caminero to see what he could do at higher levels, the Guardians shipped him out for Myers, who’d put up a 3.90 ERA across Double-A and Triple-A with decent strikeout numbers.
The move didn’t work out on either end.
Cleveland traded Myers to Milwaukee for cash less than eight months later in July 2022. He showed some promise with the Brewers at the MLB level in 2024 but spent most of 2025 back in Triple-A before getting dealt to the Mets this offseason.
Caminero, meanwhile, has turned into exactly what Cleveland’s lineup has been missing. He’s just 22 and already looks like one of baseball’s premier power hitters. His recent WBC performance only reinforced what Tampa Bay saw in him.
The Guardians have built a competitive team through player development and smart trades, but this one stings. They essentially gave away a potential superstar for a pitcher who couldn’t stick in their organization for a full season.
It’s the kind of trade that makes front offices lose sleep.
