Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports in Baltimore had an update on the Travis Snider trade today, saying that he’s hearing the player to be named later won’t be determined until Spring Training.
Last night I wrote about the possibilities for the PTBNL, noting that it might be a 2014 draft pick that can’t be traded until mid-season. I don’t think this news rules that out. Kubatko has been saying that the player will be “determined” in Spring Training, which doesn’t necessarily mean he will be traded at that time. Last year the Pirates made a similar deal in sending Blake Taylor to the Mets for Ike Davis, and there were some rumors saying that the Mets didn’t decide on Taylor right away, and were deciding between a few other players.
This update does lead to a stronger possibility that the reason for a PTBNL is so that the Pirates can get a closer and more recent look at a few players. Kubatko says that the two teams didn’t settle on whether the second player is a pitcher or a position player. He also said that an official didn’t know what Neal Huntington was referring to with his “similar” comment, saying that Huntington could be referencing the lower levels of the farm system or prospect status.
It looks like we won’t be hearing much about this subject for at least a month, and most likely two months, since I’d imagine the point of all of this will be for the Pirates to evaluate a few players before they make a decision.
