Brutal Junior Caminero-Yankees connection resurfaces, proves New York fumbled the bag

When one looks over the ALDS matchup between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, there's one name on the Rays roster that must be circled in red. That's Junior Caminero, the 23-year-old slugger who clobbered 42 homers, and the entirety of his season — not just a couple of September walk-offs — has him as a legitimate AL MVP candidate.

Looking to the future, Caminero should only get better from here on out. Despite his young age, he's played two full seasons and a couple of cups of coffee, and has already managed to hit 94 home runs. He doesn't turn 24 until next July. Today, the Tampa Bay third baseman is already one of the most fearsome hitters in the game. In the future, he could become an even scarier monster. In fact, he's the first player to post consecutive 40-plus-homer seasons before his age-24 season since Alex Rodriguez in 1998 and 1999.

And if you can believe it, he reportedly could've been a Yankee. Back in 2019, New York's former international scouting director, Donny Rowland, signed Jasson Dominguez to a $5.1 million bonus. At the same time, Caminero was a lesser-known teenager in Santo Domingo, who was not projected to sign for more than $100,000. Instead of snapping him up, Rowland gave $337,000 to Enger Castellano, and the snubbed Caminero signed with the Cleveland Guardians for just $87,000.

Castellano has been out of affiliated ball since 2023, and never played above the Florida Complex League level. Caminero is already a two-time All-Star.

Gambling on Junior Caminero would've solved the Yankees' third base drought while building a dynastic foundation

Some may wonder if Caminero would've signed with the Yankees had they made an offer. The answer is obvious. Of course he would've inked the dotted line if they beat Cleveland's paltry offer, but the reasoning goes far beyond that. Caminero grew up idolizing Alex Rodriguez, and as a six-year-old, petitioned his parents to name his younger brother Girardi after the then-Yankees manager following the 2009 World Series victory.

There are some who will say that it was impossible to know back in 2019 that Caminero would have such a meteoric rise. That's fair, but only to an extent. The international market is very much a crapshoot. We're talking about signing 16-and-17-year-olds, and the agreements are often handshake deals that come years earlier. We're talking about projecting the futures of literal children.

However, this isn't a pick-a-name-out-of-a-hat exercise. There is some level of expertise expected of the scouting department to help discover these diamonds in the rough. There are plenty of other reasons why Rowland was let go, but his record was extremely subpar, and whiffing on Caminero is just another black mark.

Moreover, think about what could have been. New York's run of third basemen since A-Rod's retirement is ridiculously abysmal. Caminero would have prevented the Ryan McMahon trade and solved the issue once and for all.

In a bigger picture sense, signing Caminero would've been a game-changer. Not only would the Yankees be a significantly more menacing candidate now, but the young superstar could combine with Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler to form the foundation for New York's next great dynasty. It would be incredibly difficult for the rest of the league to compete with this trio of young phenoms.

Unfortunately, this goes down as another Yankees international miss. Now, Caminero will be a thorn in New York's side for years to come. We can only hope that the Yankees can vanquish the Rays in the ALDS and that the Rays fail to capitalize on having such a great young cornerstone in the ensuing seasons.

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