Player to be named later

The Game Room
1

A lot of baseball trades include a “player to be named later”. Are there any examples of these players who became great or very good players?

2

According to Wikipedia, David Ortiz and Moises Alou would qualify.

3

Here’s a few prominent players who were once the ptbnl:
Scott Podseknik
Coco Crisp
David Ortiz
Dmitri Young
Moises Alou
Fernando Vina
Marco Scutaro
Jeremy Bonderman

4

I’ve also long wondered exactly how that works. I assume it’s conditional based on the other parts of the trade, but frankly I have no idea. Who exactly decides who this later player is?

5

Both teams must agree, but there’s often a confidential list of possibilities agreed at the time of the trade, from which the receiving team will later choose one.

Scutaro is a subject of the film A Player to Be Named Later.

6

Often the player is already decided by both teams, but due to some mlb rule (for example drafted players can’t be traded for 1 year) they have to wait to announce the player.