Fantasy 411

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Hosts Mike Siano (far left) and Cory Schwartz (far right)
Hosts Mike Siano (far left) and Cory Schwartz (far right)

The Fantasy 411 is an Major League Baseball radio and television broadcast on MLB.com. The hosts are primarily Mike Siano and Cory Schwartz, with occasional contributions from Vinny Micucci, Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus and Jeffrey Ma from Protrade. The show airs Monday through Friday, from 11:00 to noon ET, during the MLB season. The show's main focus is fantasy baseball. Schwartz and Siano answer fans' questions through calls, e-mails or instant messages. In the offseason the Fantasy 411 airs once a week until the end of February, after which it airs twice a week. The show can be downloaded as a podcast through MLB.com or iTunes. The archives of the Fantasy 411 are available through MLB.com. In the summer of 2006, the Fantasy 411 podcast had 3,000,000 daily subscribers in addition to thousands of live listeners and/or viewers of the show.

Contents

[edit] The Hosts

Mike Siano and Cory Schwartz are both New Yorkers and they both vehemently support the Yankees. One caller dubbed the Fantasy 411 as "infotainment" because the show combines lots of good fantasy baseball information while entertaining with pop culture references.

[edit] Cory Schwartz

[edit] Tendencies and Ideas

Schwartz is the host that is more inclined toward statistical analysis and sabermetrics, especially since he has been a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), hence his nickname: Cory "Stats" Schwartz. Schwartz tends to favor hitters who have good plate discipline, and proven track record (or performance record, as his father would say). Schwartz is also responsible for providing insight on the minor leagues and upcoming prospects. In May 2006, Schwartz questioned the Pitch and Ditch strategy and went emo after poor performances from Ian Snell and Juan Cruz but has since retracted his doubts. Schwartz also went emo after he failed to acquire Cole Hamels for his fantasy team. Schwartz's signature topics are his National Fantasy Baseball Championship (NFBC) team and questioning front office and on-field strategy by major league teams, such as whether the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim should promote Howie Kendrick (Kendrick was promoted in July 2006). Schwartz also likes to taunt Siano during the show whenever Siano misses a show due to apparent injury or illness. Schwartz, and Micucci when he hosts, do not hesitate to "throw Siano under the bus", and to question his wisdom teeth surgery and innumerable other injuries.

[edit] "DTM"

Schwartz's signature phrase -- which he actually adopted from Siano -- is "DTM" which is an acronym for "Dead To Me." Schwartz uses the phrase during the Pitch and Ditch segment of the show for pitchers who have drawn his ire due to poor performance while on his fantasy team and much improved performance after Schwartz cuts them, such as Ted Lilly, Jeff Suppan, Jeff Weaver, Ian Snell, Esteban Loaiza, and Juan Cruz. His "DTM" phrase has also been applied to Luis Castillo, who stole 3 bases on the last day of the 2004 season which cost Schwartz' NL-only keeper team a championship.

[edit] Favorite Players

Some of Schwartz's favorite players include Vladimir Guerrero, Derek Jeter, Howie Kendrick, Brandon Webb, Jeremy Bonderman, Chuck James, Jimmy Rollins, Marcus Giles and Dan Haren.

[edit] Mike Siano

[edit] Tendencies and Ideas

Siano is the host who believes more in veteran players with good track records. Siano's signature fantasy play is to avoid oft-injured pitchers, such as Mark Prior, A.J. Burnett, Ben Sheets, Rich Harden and Kerry Wood, citing that these pitchers are "your problem, not mine." Siano is most recognized on the show for his quote "As frustrating and aggravating as chasing saves is, you have to admit, it is kind of fun" which was played in the opening montage of the show everyday until August 16, 2006. On Fridays, Siano refers to the show as the "Freaky Friday" edition of the Fantasy 411.

[edit] Favorite Players

Some of Siano's favorite players are Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Anibal Sanchez, Jon Garland, Justin Verlander, Miguel Tejada , Honky Tonk Koronka Donk (John Koronka), Dan Haren and, infamously, Brian Bannister.

[edit] Controversy

In the Summer of 2006, Siano missed many shows due to various illnesses and injuries, such as plantar fasciitis, and surgery on his wisdom teeth. However, due to length and odd timing of his absence, many in the Fantasy 411 community believe that Siano's injuries were in fact fabricated, and that he was simply taking a vacation. This behavior has led to the coining of the phrases "taking a Siano" and "going Siano." Siano is notoriously defensive on this issue, and the controversy led to his infamous rant regarding his wisdom teeth surgery which has been part of the Opening Montage since August 18, 2006.

Entering 2007 Siano, is attempting desperately to clear his 'good' name. He has now claimed that it will in fact be Stats Schwartz and not himself who will have more unexcused absences in the double-o-7. In the early goings of the year he in fact was winning 0-1 (lower number better; as in golf) over Cory. Needless to say, the earth began spinning around its axis again, and the world was restored to its natural order by Feb. 15th, 2007 (dubbed by the mlb.com community as "fantasy opening day"), as Schwartzenheimer claimed a seemingly insurmountable Valentine's Day 1-2 lead while Siano preserved himself for the opening day 3-hour special.

[edit] The Fantasy 411 Philosophy

The Fantasy 411 Philosophy is a strategy for creating a successful fantasy baseball team. The strategy is to use early draft picks on good hitters and closers rather than starting pitchers. This strategy is also useful in auction leagues, where more money should be spent on hitters and closers rather than starting pitchers. The reason for the Fantasy 411 Philosophy is that hitting performance is much more predictable than pitching performance, and that good hitting is much harder to find than good pitching. The merits of the Fantasy 411 Philosophy have been proven true in 2006, as many high-profile starting pitchers who were taken early in fantasy drafts, such as Jake Peavy, Andy Pettitte, Mark Buehrle and Randy Johnson have performed poorly, and others, such as Mark Prior, Rich Harden and Ben Sheets have succumbed to injury. Some Fantasy 411 favorites for 2006 are Brandon Webb, Danny Haren, Jeremy Bonderman, Aaron Harang, and John Lackey, all of whom are enjoying great success in 2006 and were taken much later in most fantasy drafts than more recognized, less successful stars.

[edit] Strategies

Schwartz and Siano have many strategies that compose the Fantasy 411 Philosophy.

[edit] List of 12

The List of 12 is a list of pitchers that Schwartz nominates for breakout seasons before each season using a secret calculated formula. The theory of the List of 12 is that once pitchers reach a certain level of experience, usually around 500 innings pitched, they tend to improve significantly. The 2006 list included Brandon Webb, Jeremy Bonderman, Aaron Harang, and Bronson Arroyo. However, when judging the List of 12, a fantasy player must use some subjectivity as the system that Schwartz uses does not always provide useful pitchers. A fantasy player can easily distinguish which pitchers in the List of 12 will be successful with a little research and mostly common sense. The list is called the List of 12 because the inaugural list included 12 pitchers. However, the list has grown every year since and the 2006 version was composed of 18 pitchers.

[edit] The 2007 List of 12

For the 2007 List of 12, the formula only produced 11 names, however, Schwartz subjectively added Erik Bedard because he symbolizes what the List of 12 represents. Schwartz mentioned during the release of the 2007 List of 12 that Dan Haren would be the star of the 2007 List of 12, following in the footsteps of Brandon Webb, John Lackey and Ben Sheets.

[edit] Pitch and Ditch

A strategy that Siano and Schwartz use based on the theory that good pitching is plentiful. The main components of the strategy are to find pitchers who are available on the waiver wire, watch the matchups and pick up pitchers accordingly. The benefit of the strategy is that it allows a fantasy player to maximize points in counting statistics (such as wins and strikeouts), provides good roster flexibility and increases the likelihood of finding surprise breakthrough performers such as Cliff Lee and Chris Capuano in 2005 and Erik Bedard and Josh Johnson in 2006. Pitch and Ditch can be considered a risky strategy because it increases the likelihood of having a very poor performance, which can severely hurt a fantasy team.

[edit] Don't Chase Wins

A strategy related to Pitch and Ditch. Statistical analysis shows that the number of wins, a fundamental statistic in fantasy baseball, that a pitcher earns is not consistent from year to year. Win accumulation is dependent on offensive run support, and is not a good reflection of pitching acumen. Thus, Mike and Cory tell the listeners to focus on improving other pitching statistics, such as saves, strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP and that accumulating wins requires patience. It's important to note, while we don't chase wins, we don't fear them either.

[edit] Buy Low, Sell High

A strategy for trading where the optimal scenario is to trade away players who are outperforming their projected performance or are getting lucky and to acquire players who are underperforming and can be reasonably expected to perform better. An essential part of the strategy is to make sure to acquire a player who is more skilled than the one being traded away. Buying low and selling high is not useful if the players are of equal value or the one being acquired is less skillful.

[edit] Max Out The Innings Limit

Most fantasy baseball leagues have innings pitched limits for pitchers. Schwartz often stresses that fantasy players need to use all of their innings to maximize the potential of their pitchers. The strategy is more complex than that however. Schwartz always mentions that it doesn't matter when one reaches his innings limit, as long as they get the best out of those innings. Using all of one's innings early can be beneficial because it allows a fantasy player to fill his/her team with position players in order to upgrade their offense after releasing all of their pitchers.

[edit] Placing

This strategy is only useful in rotisserie leagues and towards the latter part of the season. The theory is that a team can move up the standings by hurting other teams that are slightly higher in the standings. Placing is a strategy that calls for a fantasy team that wants to leap over another team or separate themselves from another team in the standings, they should help other teams in certain categories in order to hurt the team that they are chasing. For example, if Team A is only a few points behind Team B in the overall standings, and Team C (or any other team other that B) only trails Team B slightly in saves (or any other category), then Team A should trade a closer to Team C as long as Team A wouldn't lose any points. The goal is for Team C to overtake Team B in saves, narrowing the lead over Team A and giving Team A a better chance to win.

[edit] Keeper League Strategy

In keeper leagues, many fantasy players feel obliged to keep as many players as they're allowed. Many callers ask Schwartz and Siano about what players to include in their keeper lists. When the keeper list that is trying to be filled is very large (more than 10), a fantasy team may not have enough good players worthy of being keepers. In such cases, Schwartz and Siano recommend to not keep less skilled players just for the sake of keeping them and to save the roster spots, because they have value, especially in shallow, mixed leagues.

Alternatively, when a potential keeper list is small (around 5) and a fantasy team has an excess of worthy keepers, Schwartz always reminds the owner to attempt to trade multiple good keepers for a smaller number of excellent keepers.

[edit] Sayings

Schwartz and Siano use many original sayings that they use in the show that are very familiar within the Fantasy 411 community. Most of the sayings are strategy related, some are humorous references.

[edit] Hitters Hit

Siano and Schwartz use the phrase "hitters hit" when referring to the idea that good hitters tend to balance out poor hitting with good hitting and that performance for hitters is much easier to project than pitching performance. This advice is very helpful for impatient fantasy players who are too eager to give up on their struggling offensive stars, despite good track records (or performance history).

[edit] Flags Fly Forever

In reference to keeper or dynasty leagues, Siano and Schwartz always recommend to try and win in the present if possible (Win Now). Often listeners are too concerned with the future and with their keeper lists when competing in keeper leagues, but Siano and Schwartz always remind the audience that winning championships is the ultimate goal because "flags fly forever."

[edit] Strength Loves Certainty, Weakness Loves Risk

A very simple and self-explanatory strategy. Late in the baseball season, teams that are winning should be more conservative regarding Pitch and Ditch and free agent pickups. Teams that have ground to make up should throw caution to the wind toward the end of the season and take more risks in hopes of moving up the standings. This also applies to late season trades where strong teams should look for consistent performance, while weak teams should try to "catch lightning in a bottle."

[edit] Don't Confuse the Outcome with the Decision

Schwartz and Siano often make this remark when listeners complain about poor performance from players on their fantasy teams when their decision making was sound. Schwartz and Siano remind the callers that a lot of luck is involved in fantasy baseball and that sound decision making will produce fruitful results in the long run.

[edit] Premium Price for Premium Players

This idea is directed toward fantasy players who only like to make lopsided trades. The idea is self explanatory in that the one must pay a significant cost, whether with high draft picks or with other good players in trades, to acquire premium players. This is also a crucial guideline when determining keeper lists: focus on talent, not price.

[edit] No Battle Plan Survives First Contact With the Enemy

An expression first stated by Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth Graf von Moltke, one of the great military strategists of the late 19th century. When applied to fantasy baseball, this means that an owner should have a careful strategy but must also be able to adapt to a different league environment or unpredictable circumstances such as injuries, trades, etc.

[edit] May The Schwartz Be With You

Johnny Archives' greeting to Cory Schwartz when he calls into the Fantasy 411 to ask a question. This is a reference from the movie Spaceballs which used "The Schwartz" as a parody of "The Force" from Star Wars.

[edit] The Road to Fifth Place is Littered With Closers of the Future

Siano says that chasing saves "is kinda fun," but Schwartz maintains that having reliable and well-established closers is very important since turnover among closers is so frequent and often unpredictable. Fantasy players often try to "chase saves" with set-up men or young relief prospects, which, as the saying says, leads to mediocrity.

[edit] Throw Under the Bus

A common phrase within the Fantasy 411 community, especially for Schwartz and Siano, adopted from Seth Everett and Darryl Hamilton of the "Stayin' Hot" show on MLB Radio. Throwing someone under the bus is to blame or talk trash about someone even though they may not be responsible for what they are being blamed for (scapegoating) This is usually done while the person taking the blame is not present so that he or she can not defend themselves.

Example: Cory and Vinny threw Siano under the bus repeatedly while he spent a week away on "vacation." This was due in part to the mysterious wisdom tooth incident, which is still under investigation.

[edit] Spoofs

The major spoof on the Fantasy 411 are Chuck Norris Facts. Listeners often call in or email original Chuck Norris Facts, which Schwartz and Siano strongly encourage. The other spoof on the show is the use of the name "Coco." During the course of the show, Schwartz and Siano like to make references to Coco Crisp and Francisco "Coco" Cordero. Jeffrey Ma from Protrade, who appears as a guest every Friday, is sometimes referred to as Jeffery "Coco" Ma. Jeffery's weekly guest appearances have moved to Thursdays for the offseason. More recent spoofs include referring to the BlackBerry as the "CrackBerry" because of its addictive nature and jokes regarding the TV show Entourage.

[edit] Fantasy 411 Hall of Fame

On Thursday, September 14, 2006 the inaugural class of the Fantasy 411 was inducted. The Hall of Famers include the best callers and contributors, who have plaques to honor them.

[edit] 2006 Inductees - The Inaugural Class

[edit] Callers

1. Brad, Bryon and Polish Joe For their tireless work and creativity in scoring the Pitch or Ditch challenge.

2. Johnny Archive For his hard work at digging up past statements and predictions to keep the hosts honest.

3. Mitch in Sacramento aka “Dr. Stats” One of the originals who contributes both on and off the air. 2005 411 Listener League Champion. Famously said regarding the saying "don't confuse the outcome with the decision:""a series of bad outcomes probably indicates a series of bad decisions!"

4. Zach in Philly One of the original listeners who contributes both on and off the air. Winner of first ever 411 Listener League.

5. Bruce in Garden City Kansas Official wardrobe provider of the 411 and original listener who has contributed both on and off the air.

6. Stray in Detroit One of the original listeners who has contributed both on and off the air.

7. Jeanne in Hollywood One of the original listeners who has contributed both on and off the air.

8. Vic in the Dominican One of the original listeners who has contributed both on and off the air. In his induction speech, Vic said that"... the coolest thing about this is that now I can sign emails, letters and autographs with 'HOF' beside my name."

9. Neighbor Steve One of the original listeners who has contributed both on and off the air.

10. Fred in Cali One of the original listeners who has contributed both on and off the air.

[edit] Strategies and Sayings

1. List of 12 Cory’s yearly list that that gives insight in to pitchers at or near 500 innings who are ready to breakout.

2. Pitch and Ditch Pitch or Ditch created in 2005 gave street cred to the 411 credo that you shouldn’t spend high on pitching since you can find success on the wire.

3. Dead To Me “DTM” Inspired by Tony Soprano it is the term given to players who can no longer grace a roster. Usually reserved for pitchers.

[edit] Hosts and Contributors

1. Pat Depirro One time 411 host who never held back his opinion and true feeling as he broke it down Italian style.

2. Lenny Melnick and Irwin Zwilling The first ever hosts of the 411. Incredible love and enthusiasm towards the game of fantasy and baseball.

3. Bone Doc The 411’s residential orthopedic surgeon Gave unlimited insight into baseball injuries and their long term effect.

4. Will Carroll and Jeffrey Ma Will for his outstanding insight into injuries and Jeffrey for his statistical analysis. Both have gone above and beyond to help out the show.

[edit] Miscellaneous

1. Mike Hampton, Ted Lilly and Brandon Larson Players so disliked by Cory and Mike that they inspire greatness and the team name of Mike’s Listener League team the South Larson Hamptonians.

2. Fenway Frank Strategy Moment Fenway Frank’s constant strategy questions led to each strategy question being named in honor of Fenway Frank.

3. Chuck Norris For roundhouse kicking a new element into the 411!

[edit] External links

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