Who was the player to be named later?

December 4, 2007 3:55 PM

In baseball trades, how can I find out who the "player to be named later" ended up being?

For example, last year, Atlanta traded Ryan Langerhans to Oakland for a player to be named later or cash. Then, three days later, Oakland traded Langerhans to Washington. What did Langerhans end up being worth to Atlanta?

I never saw where anybody named the player, or whether it was determined to accept cash instead. I know that teams use the "player to be named later" designation when the teams can't agree or when the player isn't eligible to be traded yet. Is there a website for this kind of (greatly) delayed curiosity?

posted by faustessa to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (11 answers total)

MLB transactions are on the official site, going back to 2001 - however, it's not searchable - you'll have to look through the pages yourself to find the player(s) you'reinterested in:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/transactions/
posted by Calloused_Foot at 4:14 PM on December 4, 2007

In many cases baseball-reference.com has this info at the bottom of the player's page. In the case of Langerhans it doesn't.

On the MLB transactions page of the Braves, it says the trade was for a player to be named later or cash, it's possible that in this case, they ended up taking the cash. It's also possible that the trade hasn't resolved yet. The As have not sent a player to the Braves.
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:16 PM on December 4, 2007

The baseball-reference link wasn't immediately helpful, but you can find the info there by going to the specific team's transaction history. The answer turned out to be Chris Snelling. I'd swear there was a site that tracks this, but I can't find it.
posted by yerfatma at 4:18 PM on December 4, 2007

Retrosheet also has transactions. While the same usability caveat for MLB.com holds here, Retrosheet goes back a lot further.
posted by yerfatma at 4:22 PM on December 4, 2007

Snelling was who the A's got for Langerhans not the Braves.
posted by bitdamaged at 4:25 PM on December 4, 2007

Response by poster: Calloused_Foot: On the MLB transactions page, it's listed as player to be named later.

yerfatma: Oakland got Chris Snelling when they traded Langerhans to the Nationals. On the Oakland team page, it still lists that Atlanta got player to be named later. On preview, Retrosheet doesn't have 2007 transactions listed yet.
posted by faustessa at 4:26 PM on December 4, 2007

It seems that the mlb transactions page shows who the players to be named later are eventually (look under 11/13/07 for Danny Christensen for example):

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/transactions/index.jsp?c_id=mlb&year=2007&month=11

However, there doesn't appear to be a resolution for the Langerhans trade, and the six month limit has already passed.
posted by Calloused_Foot at 4:41 PM on December 4, 2007

Response by poster: Yeah, now that this question is totally driving me nuts, I found this page of unresolved transactions. The Langerhans trade is listed there, as are other transactions going back to 1966.
posted by faustessa at 4:48 PM on December 4, 2007

You could always try contacting MLB's public relations department and ask if this information is available:

http://pressbox.mlb.com/pressbox/contacts/contacts.jsp?content=contacts

From what I've heard, they're actually pretty good about responding to non-press people.
posted by Calloused_Foot at 4:50 PM on December 4, 2007

Crap, sorry about that. Everything I can find on the original Atlanta-Oakland deal says it was for PTBNL or cash considerations. I thought I'd heard once it hits 6 months, they just send the cash.
posted by yerfatma at 5:14 PM on December 4, 2007

Related trivia: Harry Chiti was the only player in MLB history to be traded for himself when he was the player to be named later on the other end of the trade for him.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:02 PM on December 5, 2007