What rules/limits apply to PTBNL?

My impression is the PTBNL often means that 2 teams agree that, in return for Player A, there is a short list of players that Player A's former team can later choose among from the team that Player A is traded to.

What are the restrictions?

* Can it be linked to performance? For example, if Player A performs to some standard, then you get This Guy, but if he doesn't you only get That Guy.

* Can it be used to circumvent deadlines? For example, Player A's former team gets a guy who can't be traded right now because he wouldn't clear waivers.

* Can Player A turn out to be his own PTBNL? For example, Player A plus $500,000 is traded for a PTBNL, who turns out to be Player A, thus making the deal a true rental?

What are all the limits that apply?

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I don't think that it can be used to circumvent restrictions, like waivers and such. I also think that the Commissioner's Office has to be notified of all the players involved even if the PTBNL doesn't know.

Here's what Baseball Biz has.

A transaction including a player to be named later must be completed within six months. The player may not be an active Major Leaguer player during the interval between the trade and the date the player is named. As a result, most players to be named later are minor leaguers.

At the time of a trade, clubs sometimes agree on a list of players from which the player to be named will be selected. They also may agree on an amount of money to be exchanged in lieu of a player.

Clubs may include a player to be named later in a trade if a player is not eligible to be traded. For example, once a draft pick signs a professional contract, he may not be traded until an entire year has elapsed (the Pete Incaviglia Rule). Additionally, a player on a minor-league reserve list may not be traded between November 20 and the Rule 5 draft in December, so trades during that window may include a PTBNL.

* Can Player A turn out to be his own PTBNL? For example, Player A plus $500,000 is traded for a PTBNL, who turns out to be Player A, thus making the deal a true rental?.

I believe Mickey Morandini was traded from the Phils to the Blue Jays one year and then was traded back that winter

Seriously. I thought PTBNL was a way to get around several different rules. Not something that actual rules applied to.