The concept of the "player to be named later" is most often associated with Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball trades.
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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. The deal must close within six months of the conclusion of the rest of the trade.
When a PTBNL transaction occurs, the negotiating teams usually agree on a list of five to 10 players 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.
After Harry Chiti was traded to the 1962 New York Mets from the Cleveland Indians for a PTBNL and the teams could not agree on a final deal, the Mets traded him back to Cleveland for himself. In 2005, John McDonald was traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Detroit Tigers for a PTBNL, and was later returned to the Blue Jays as the PTBNL.[1]
Because players must change leagues, generally minor leaguers are chosen, and thus very few PTBNLs are of known star quality at the time of trade. However, some minor league PTBNLs who have turned out to be productive in the majors include Michael Brantley, Jeremy Bonderman, Scott Podsednik, Coco Crisp, Moisés Alou, Jason Schmidt, and David Ortiz.
In the movie Bull Durham, Kevin Costner's oft-traded Crash Davis introduces himself to his new manager as "I’m the player to be named later."
In the National Hockey League, future considerations work in a similar fashion to PTBNLs, except that, because the NHL allows to trade draft picks, but does not allow to trade players or draft picks for cash, draft picks can be traded instead of cash.