How does the "player to be named later" work in baseball trades?

Question

Does the team that is giving up the "player to be named later" have the option to give the receiving team any player? Does the receiving team have any say in who is the "player to be named later" ?

Answer 1

The concept of the "player to be named later" is most often associated with Major League Baseball trades. The "player to be named later" (PTBNL) is generally used to postpone a trade's final conditions or terms. This is often done for two reasons. First, the team receiving the PTBNL might not be certain which position they want to fill, so this type of deal gives them more time to figure it out. Second, this type of arrangement gives the team receiving the PTBNL more time to evaluate the available talent on the other team. When one of these PTBNL transactions occurs, the negotiating teams usually agree on a list of 5-10 players (typically minor leaguers) that the PTBNL will ultimately be chosen from. If the teams can't agree on who the player will be, then they will agree on a price to be paid instead of a player.

There are two rules to a PTBNL transaction. The deal must close within a six-month timeframe following the conclusion of the rest of the trade, and the player must change leagues. Because of these two rules there have been some interesting circumstances. In 1962, when Harry Chiti was traded to the New York Mets from the Cleveland Indians for a PTBNL, and the teams could not agree on a final deal within the six-month timeframe, the PTBNL was, oddly enough, Harry Chiti. The New York Mets traded him back to Cleveland for himself, in essence to negate the trade altogether with neither side losing or gaining anything. Another interesting circumstance involves the second rule: players must change leagues. Generally to work around this rule minor leaguers are chosen, and thus very few PTBNLs are of star quality. However, some minor league PTBNLs who have turned out to be productive in the majors include Jeremy Bonderman, Scott Podsednik, Coco Crisp, Moises Alou, Jason Schmidt, and David Ortiz.

Cash or other considerations may be exchanged in lieu of the player to be named later. For example, during the 1994 Major League Baseball strike, the Minnesota Twins traded Dave Winfield to the Cleveland Indians at the trade deadline. Among the conditions of the trade were that if the Indians played no more games in 1994, "Indians general manager John Hart must write a check for $100 made out to the Minnesota Twins and take Twins general manager Andy MacPhail out to dinner."

Answer 2

Sometimes, it's a specific player who simply isn't being transferred immediately because of some contractual or roster issue. When it's not, there is usually a short list of players that both teams have agreed would be acceptable. When the time comes to complete the trade, the team giving up a player will send one of those (of its choice) to the other team.

Answer 3

There are several players on any time, that are registered with the MLB office as "player to be named later". If a trade is made with one of these listed players as part of the trade, then ~one month is permitted to decide on which player from the list is wanted.

Answer 4

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RE:
How does the "player to be named later" work in baseball trades?
Does the team that is giving up the "player to be named later" have the option to give the receiving team any player? Does the receiving team have any say in who is the "player to be named later" ?

Answer 5

Basically a team trades someone, and they get a player to be named later. The team who sends the PTBNL must name him with in a period of time, and the recieving team has no say. Let me give you a funny example. Once the Cubs traded a player ( I forgot his name, lets call him bob) to another team for a PTBNL, the other team later named that PTBNL, but it was Bob. Ha ha ha

Answer 6

It's an agreement. They may say, here are five guys and you can have one. The other team might want to send a scout to see which one they want best.

Answer 7

It means that they dont know who exactly got traded but they know how many people got traded. The media does not know the detail of it.