Hard to come back after a 7-8 year layoff?

Thinking about rejoining the world of fantasy baseball after a layoff. Are most leagues still 5x5 or is that outdated? Has the amount of in person drafts gone down drastically with technology?

I was a member of this site for years, had to make a new account. Forgot my username. Haven't been on here in years. Names seem familiar.

[The Dane]

I don't think that much has changed in 8 years. I've noticed these minor changes over the last 7-8 years:

-OBP has replaced AVG in a good number of leagues. It's possibly even more common with the people here.
-It seems that CBS is easily the stat service of choice. That old service debate is over, for the most part.
-A lot of leagues have devalued wins and raised the value of middle relievers.
-Rule changes seems to be trending less toward SOL and more toward ease of use. The experts formats seem to be shedding rules and restrictions, not adding them.
-If you read anything with "Shandler" on it, you'll be persuaded to try a monthly format.
-Daily money leagues are gaining popularity and do change how we forecast and analyze. Some of the people here are quite good at it.
-The amount of live drafts may have dropped, but I still think people value them highly. I am in three live drafts and those three days mean more to me than every holiday and my birthday combined.
-ADP has become a value stat/source, even for those us that only use auction format.

There's probably a lot more I'm not remembering at this point.

[DMT]

Offense has declined.

[TranaGreg]

Offense has declined.

and pitching has surged. we had a thread late last year where a number of leagues had teams with ERAs below 3.00 (my league was one). That never happened before.

[Erik]

Offense has declined.

Yeah, pretty much every position is "meh" at best except OF.

[The Feral Slasher]

Looks like I will be joining a league after a 5 year layoff. Any new websites or publications I should know about ? I'll probably buy Shandler's yearbook or Baseball Prospectus --any recs on those or other books ?

[The Dane]

I swear by both Baseball Forecaster and Baseball Prospectus. I also like Hardball Times, but it's not a crucial part of my preparation. For minors research, Sickels' book is my favorite, but I feel the only good view on minors is a wide view and I collect as many opinions as I can.

Forecaster is great because it arrives in December. You just can't beat that. While the rest of the world is hibernating through NFL and NBA seasons, we can be reading about baseball. The early date makes it less "reliable" but they have updates online.

Prospectus is, overall, my favorite book. It's the best read and the analysis is non-pariel, but it isn't really geared specifically for fantasy (like Forecaster). The month or so it takes me to go cover-to-cover on Prospectus is my favorite month of the year.

[The Feral Slasher]

I swear by both Baseball Forecaster and Baseball Prospectus. I also like Hardball Times, but it's not a crucial part of my preparation. For minors research, Sickels' book is my favorite, but I feel the only good view on minors is a wide view and I collect as many opinions as I can.

Forecaster is great because it arrives in December. You just can't beat that. While the rest of the world is hibernating through NFL and NBA seasons, we can be reading about baseball. The early date makes it less "reliable" but they have updates online.

Prospectus is, overall, my favorite book. It's the best read and the analysis is non-pariel, but it isn't really geared specifically for fantasy (like Forecaster). The month or so it takes me to go cover-to-cover on Prospectus is my favorite month of the year.

Thanks for the response, just put in my order for Prospectus and Forecaster, can't wait for them to show up !