The Tampa Bay Rays have some incredibly talented young players to build their roster around for years to come. One of their breakout performers in 2025 was third baseman Junior Caminero.
A top-five prospect in baseball entering the 2024 campaign, he showed flashes of his remarkable skill as a late-season call-up in 2023 to debut and for 43 games in 2024. In 2025, his first full season as a Big Leaguer, he broke out in a major way.
Caminero hit 45 home runs and recorded 110 RBI. He is one of the youngest players in MLB history to reach those statistical plateaus, already looking like one of the best power hitters in the sport.
At only 22 years old, he is only scratching the surface of his potential. Expect the Rays to do everything in their power to get him locked into a long-term deal, similar to what they did with Wander Franco a few years ago.
An All-Star for the first time in 2025, plenty of accolades and awards are going to be heading his way in the future. He was a finalist for the Silver Slugger Award for third baseman in the American League and for the Hank Aaron Award.
Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images
Caminero is a surefire long-term building block for Tampa Bay. Which is what makes the proposed bold trade of Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report all the tougher to fathom.
He made a wild proposal for each division. In the AL East, he picked Caminero being traded to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for SS Franklin Arias, LHP Payton Tolle, OF Jhostynxon Garcia and RHP Kyson Witherspoon.
Those are all four of the top 100 prospects the Red Sox have, according to MLB Pipeline, after Roman Anthony graduated and others, such as catcher Kyle Teel and outfielder Braden Montgomery, were traded to the Chicago White Sox in last year’s blockbuster for Garrett Crochet.
There is at least some historical relevance to this deal being proposed. Back in November 2007, the Rays traded outfielder Delmon Young, who was 22 years old and coming off his first full Major League campaign, to the Minnesota Twins.
2025 Stat Standouts:
– Junior Caminero’s 45 HR.
– Juan Soto’s 38 SB.
– Josh Naylor’s 30 SB.
РJeremy Pe̱a hit .304 w/17 HR & 20 SB.
– Logan Webb’s 224 strikeouts.
– Aroldis Chapman’s 1.17 ERA and 6.6% BB%.
Were any of these on your bingo card at the start of the 2025 season? pic.twitter.com/HvWznuQtdM
— LouisAnalysis (@LouisAnalysis) October 29, 2025
An argument could be made that turning Caminero into four highly regarded prospects is a worthwhile move to make for a franchise that operates in the fashion in which Tampa Bay does. Two high-upside arms, a potential 30-home run threat and a middle infielder who can be a long-term answer for Brandon Lowe.
Alas, no matter how much sense it could make, the Rays are not going to be entertaining offers for their best player. Under new ownership, this could be a time for the franchise to start moving forward and committing money to their Big League roster, not paring things down even more.
Also, if they were going to consider a repeat of what they did with Young, it certainly wouldn’t involve a divisional rival. If Caminero was going to be traded, it would almost certainly be outside of the AL East, not fixing the biggest hole the Red Sox currently have on their roster at the hot corner.