Let’s go back.
It’s August 1st, 2023. The Tampa Bay Rays just defeated the New York Yankees, 5-2, and improved to 66-44 on the season. It has been a golden season for Tampa Bay as they kicked off the campaign with a 13 game winning streak and took 20 of their first 23 games to effectively establish themselves as the favorites in the American League East.
Advertisement
Not to say there weren’t any bumps in the road as Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen both went down early with injuries that required season ending surgery.
Still the Rays enjoyed an incredible season from Yandy Diaz and breakout campaigns from Isaac Pardes and Josh Lowe. Randy Arozarena continued to show he was the model of consistency and Brandon Lowe showcased that he was the best offensive second baseman in baseball when healthy. Role players like Jose Siri, Luke Raley, and Harold Ramirez were quietly having tremendous years. Then you also had Wander Franco who was showing that he was a future MVP candidate.
Even with Rasmussen and Springs going down, the Rays pitching staff was extremely effective. Zach Eflin, the largest free agent signing in franchise history, was having a career year. Tyler Glasnow battled through an injury to be an ace. Shane McClanahan started the All Star game for the American League.
The Rays were all but locked into the playoffs.
Advertisement
So, back to August 1st:
It was the 2023 trade deadline and the Rays were looking to buy. It just so happened that Shohei Ohtani, one of the greatest players in baseball history, was possibly available. The Rays were interested.
The Rays would send top prospects Junior Caminero and Carson Williams to the Angels for Ohtani. The Rays were even willing to include more to seal the deal. At the time, Caminero and Williams were ranked 1-2 in the Rays system; Camerino was 5th on Baseball America’s top 100 while Williams was 22nd.
Advertisement
Entering play on August 1st, Ohtani was hitting .305/.407/.680 with 39 HR, registering a 186 wRC+ over 472 PA. That was just his offensive performance, on the mound, Ohtani had a 3.43 ERA | 4.13 FIP over 120.2 IP. The Rays would effectively be acquiring one of the best hitters and pitchers in the game, four months of him was worth emptying the farm.
It was a deal that would have vaulted the Rays from playoff hopefuls to World Series favorites.
However, the Angels were 56-51. They were in 3rd place in the American League West, 4.5 games back. In the Wild Card chase, Los Angeles trailed the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox for the 3rd Wild Card spot. There was still a chance they could make the playoffs and possibly win a championship with Ohtani, a player whom they’d wasted the Hall of Fame career of thus far.
So Arte Moreno decided against Junior Caminero and Carson Williams and whatever other prospects the Rays were willing to include.
Advertisement
Moreno instead was going to have the Angels go for it.
In the week leading up to the deadline, the Angels made a small flurry of deals, trading away their top prospects, Edgar Quero and Ky Bush. Later on they traded away Jeremiah Jackson, Jake Madden, and Mason Albright for short term rental pieces to try and improve their roster.
So how did it all work out?
From August 1st through the end of the season, the Angels were the 2nd worst team in all of baseball, going 17-38. Los Angeles finished 4th in their division with a 73-89 record, 17 games behind the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers, and 16 games back of a Wild Card spot. Shohei Ohtani dealt with separate injuries that ended his pitching season and only allowed him a handful of games offensively. He would leave that offseason and sign a $700M deal with the Dodgers just a few miles away.
Advertisement
The only thing the Angels received for Ohtani was the 74th overall pick in the 2024 draft due to Ohtani rejecting the team’s qualifying offer. With that pick, the Angels took Ryan Johnson, who they accelerated to the big leagues. However, he currently has a 10.17 ERA over 23 IP at the Major League level.
Meanwhile, the Rays suffered through some of the franchise’s worst moments that August as Shane McClanahan went down with an arm injury and wouldn’t pitch on a Major League mound again until April 2026.
Wander Franco, one of the best performing players in franchise history and locked into a 10-year deal, would be placed on administrative leave after accusations popped up of him being involved with a minor. Over the years, Franco has formally been arrested, charged, tried, and tried against for the crimes of which is he is accused and has not been on the Rays active roster since early August, 2023.
Despite losing two of their top performers, the Rays still won 99 games and made the playoffs as the top Wild Card team. Unfortunately, the team was a shell of it’s regular season form as they were without Brandon Lowe and were relying on untested prospects to the carry the team. Unfortunately, Jonathan Aranda, Curtis Mead, and Junior Caminero were overmatched and the Rays fell easily to the Texas Rangers.
Advertisement
If the Rays had Shohei Ohtani, the Series or the season may have played out differently. But given his lack of playing time down the stretch, the difference could have lacked the desired impact, short of a contract extension being signed with the club.
In the years since, Junior Caminero has developed into one of the most prolific power hitters in all of baseball. Since the start of the 2025 season, Caminero is hitting .265/.322/.529 with 58 HR, the 5th most in baseball over that stretch. The 23-year old can also be seen leading the celebration whenever another teammate succeeds as he is often at the front of the line to greet players coming back to the dugout after scoring a run. In the community, Caminero often visits local youth baseball leagues to be the highlight of a young player’s day. He has become exactly the player you want representing your team.
The real lesson here should not be about winners or losers, but instead show you that the Rays are always willing to do what it takes to compete, whether that means going all in for the right trade piece, or adapting on the field strategies to meet the needs of a roster.
Then again, if potentially the greatest player of all time is available for trade, it’s not exactly surprising for the Rays to try and make it happen, right?