Fansided

MLB Trade Deadline: 5 best players to be named later

By Phil Watson

The Cleveland Indians were the latest team to commit a player to be named later after acquiring Nick Maronde from the Los Angeles Angels earlier this month. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The Cleveland Indians were the latest team to commit a player to be named later after acquiring Nick Maronde from the Los Angeles Angels earlier this month. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 7
Next
Once upon a time, Brandon Weeden was a player to be named later in a 2003 trade between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Once upon a time, Brandon Weeden was a player to be named later in a 2003 trade between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /

Strange Things, Man, Strange Things

There have been some strange things happen with the good old PTBNL, but perhaps none stranger than a trade in January 1961 involving the Kansas City Athletics and the Baltimore Orioles.

The Orioles traded catcher Clint Courtney, pitcher Jim Archer, first baseman Bob Boyd, infielder Wayne Causey and outfielder Al Pilarcek to the A’s in exchange for outfielders Whitey Herzog and Russ Snyder and a player to be named later.

On April 15, the A’s announced they were sending Clint Courtney to the Orioles to complete the January trade.

Yes, catcher Clint Courtney was the player to be named later in the same trade that sent him out of Baltimore in the first place. Courtney had already achieved a level of notoriety as the first big league catcher to wear eyeglasses under his mask … before he was traded for himself.

Another notable PTNBL deal happened in December 2003, when the New York Yankees dealt pitchers Jeff Weaver and Yhency Brazoban, along with a PTBNL, to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitcher Kevin Brown. Two days later, the PTBNL was announced, a 19-year-old pitcher who had just completed his second year in the Yankee organization at Low-A Staten Island in the New York-Penn League, where he was 0-2 with a 3.72 ERA in five starts.

Brandon Weeden never got above High-A ball in five years in the minors and eventually enrolled at Oklahoma State University and played a little football, well enough to be drafted in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. Today, he is a backup quarterback with the Dallas Cowboys.

Home/MLB