Players to be named later. It's kind of an odd stipulation to a baseball trade, but it happens a lot.
Often times the player who is named later gets no attenion because he is a minor league player nobody's heard of.
Now the player isn't just picked out of the entire organization, or even out of the entire level in the minor league. No, the teams say in advance which of these 5-10 players are suitable for you to take when chosen, according to a 2000 Slate article.
Usually the trade is done to get it under the deadline so that the players can contribute for each team, and the player is usually a minor league filler player.
However, not always is that the case, as I've pored through all of the transactions on RetroSheet and come up with a good 25-man roster of current MLB players who have been this unheralded"PNL" at some point in their career. Here we are:
Lineup:
1. CF Scott Podsednik, White Sox: In 1995, traded from Texas to Florida along with Wilson Heredia (also a PNL) in exchange for Bobby Witt. (Named two months later)
2. RF Coco Crisp, Indians: In 2002, sent from St. Louis to Cleveland along with a prospect in exchange for Chuck Finley. (Named 19 days later)
3. DH David Ortiz, Red Sox: In 1996, traded from Seattle to Minnesota in exchange for Dave Hollins. (Named 15 days later)
4. 1B Dmitri Young, Tigers: In 1997, traded from Tampa Bay to Cincinnati in exchange for Mike Kelly. (Named 7 days later)
5. LF Moises Alou, Giants: In 1990, traded from Pittsburgh to Montreal along with Scott Ruskin and Willie Greene in exchange for Zane Smith. (Named eight days later)
6. SS Fernando Vina, Tigers: In 1994, traded from New York Mets to Milwaukee along with fellow PNL Javier Gonzalez in exchange for Doug Henry. (Named 22 days later)
7. 2B Marco Scutaro, A's: In 2000, sent from Cleveland along with Paul Rigdon, Richie Sexson and Kane Davis to the Brewers in exchange for Bob Wickman, Steve Woodard and Jason Bere. (Named 33 days later)
Article comments
1 - Tan The Man
Yeah, the scouting for those teams must have sucked in order to miss some of those guys. But no one doubted Jason Schmidt's talent, it was just a matter of patience in waiting for him to blossom. If the Braves gave him away, then they sure did doubt how long it would take.
2 - spycake
A couple notes:
1) That was a different Kevin Brown (a catcher, I believe). The starting pitcher Kevin Brown was a #1 pick of the Rangers and came up in their organization.
2) Some of these are PTBNL's in only the technical sense, and not in the "minor-league-filler", diamond-in-the-rough spirit of this list. For example, Jason Schmidt and Jeremy Bonderman were both key components of the their respective trades; I suspect their inclusion as a PTBNL was for procedural reasons (i.e. letting them finish with the same minor league team, waiting to see results of a physical or recovery from injury, etc.).
3 - spycake
Correction: the Kevin Brown you reference was a pitcher, but he was out of the league by 1992. (The catcher Kevin Brown came a few years later)