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How Rays turned Tim Beckham draft pick into Junior Caminero
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- How Rays turned Tim Beckham draft pick into Junior Caminero
How Rays turned Tim Beckham draft pick into Junior Caminero originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The Tampa Bay Rays drafted Tim Beckham with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft.
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In totality, that pick ended up being a bust. But if you re-trace their steps, it actually led to their current superstar, Junior Caminero .
Beckham himself spent parts of seven seasons in the big leagues, playing for four teams and never realizing his potential.
A pair of trades turned him into Caminero.
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How Tim Beckham trades led to Junior Caminero for Rays
Beckham was involved in an initial deal at the 2017 trade deadline.
The Rays sent the shortstop to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for a minor league right-handed pitcher named Tobias Myers .
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In November of 2021, the Rays then dealt Myers to the Cleveland Guardians for Caminero.
Caminero was just 18 and had put up a .914 OPS in the Dominican Summer League.
"He intrigued the Rays with the way he made hard, frequent contact," The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal wrote in a new article on Thursday. "But he didn't intrigue them that much. The Rays, according to officials with both clubs who were granted anonymity for their candor, asked the Guardians for other players first Both the Rays' miss on Beckham and the Guardians' miss on Caminero serve as reminders of the humbling nature of player evaluation. Rather than brag about the Caminero deal, Rays officials will talk about another seemingly minor deal in which they gave up a future All-Star — left-hander Cristopher Sánchez, whom they sent to the Philadelphia Phillies for infielder Curtis Mead in November 2019."
It's a funny balance from the baseball gods. The Rays missed on Beckham, but they got Caminero out of it.
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All's well that ends well.
