Junior Caminero just gave Guardians two more reminders of most painful trade mistake

Death, taxes and former Cleveland players haunting their old team on a trip to Progressive Field. 

That theme was on full display on Tuesday when Junior Caminero returned to Cleveland for the second time in his major league career and mashed two home runs in a 9-0 Rays win that adds even more sting to the Guardians' recent string of listless play.

Junior Caminero just gave Guardians two more reminders of most painful trade mistake

Caminero’s first blast was the kind of majestic blast he’s becoming known for, as he punished a mistake from Tanner Bibee and sent a pitch 412 feet to the shrubbery in dead center field. His second homer came on a slider from Tim Herrin.

Meanwhile, the Guardians’ offense are in the midst of a 28 inning scoreless streak; they haven’t had a runner cross the plate since the eighth inning on Friday. 

It also didn’t help that Caminero’s strong showing came on a day where seemingly everything else went wrong for the Guardians. Tanner Bibee struggled through six innings and got into a shouting match with Stephen Vogt in the Guardians dugout. The offense could only muster two hits as a part of that aforementioned scoreless streak. Austin Hedges made his third pitching appearance of the year. 

“We are frustrated. Everyone's frustrated,” Vogt said after the game. “We need to hit. We need to score more runs. We need to get things going on offense, and we're all aware of it. We're all working through it, and it's going to take all of us individually, doing our best. And I know we're going to continue to do that day in and day out, but we've got to get some offense going.”

You know who had their offense going? The Tampa Bay Rays, thanks to Caminero and Yandy Díaz, who both began their careers with Cleveland. 

Díaz ended Bibee’s night in the seventh inning with a homer of his own. It was the 22nd home run of his season, which ties his career high.

Cleveland traded Díaz to the Rays ahead of the 2019 season as a part of a three-team deal that sent Carlos Santana back to Cleveland and Edwin Encarnación to Seattle, while Caminero was traded away after the 2021 season as a minor leaguer in exchange for Tobias Meyers. 

None of the pieces the Guardians got for either player are still with the club, while Caminero and Díaz are the heartbeat of the Rays’ order. 

It remains to be seen how many records Caminero will break. He’s closing in on Carlos Peña’s franchise record for home runs in a single season (49), and also seems destined to break Fernando Tatis Jr. 's record for most home runs in a season by a Dominican-born player before turning 23 (42 in 2021). 

The Guardians’ trade of Caminero is on pace to become one of the worst trades in MLB history, and Tuesday was a stark reminder of that.