John sent me this to post. He says that the book should be done tomorrow, although we will need a few days to edit and make final grade changes. Almost there!! We will start posting Top 20s at an accellerated pace tomorrow, so hold on!

Oakland Athletics Top 20 Prospects for 2008

All grades are EXTREMELY PRELIMINARY and subject to change.

1. Carlos Gonzalez, OF, Grade B+
   
2. Daric Barton, 1B, Grade B+
   
3. Brett Anderson, LHP, Grade B+
   
4. Chris Carter, 1B, Grade B+ (an aggressive grade but I LOVE this guy)
   
5. James Simmons, RHP, Grade B
   
6. Henry Alberto Rodriguez, RHP, Grade B  (big-time sleeper, great arm)
   
7. Trevor Cahill, RHP, Grade B-
   
8. Aaron Cunningham, OF, Grade B-
   
9. Corey Brown, OF, Grade B-
   
10. Andrew Bailey, RHP, Grade B- (another sleeper with an aggressive grade)
    
11. Sean Doolittle, 1B, Grade B-
    
12. Javier Herrera, OF, Grade C+ (great tools, but refinement??)
    
13. Dan Meyer, LHP, Grade C+
    
14. Greg Smith, LHP, Grade C+
    
15. Sam Demel, RHP, Grade C+
    
16. Andrew Carignan, RHP, Grade C+
    
17. Grant Desme, OF, Grade C+
    
18. Travis Banwart, RHP, Grade C+
    
19. Josh Horton, SS, Grade C+
    
20. Jermaine Mitchell, OF, Grade C

Grade C guys interchangeable with some above include Jeff Baisley, Graham Godfrey, Dan Hamblin, Aaron Jenkins, Brad Kilby, Vince Mazzaro, Kevin Melillo, Cliff Pennington, Landon Powell (who could be a Grade B if he could stay healthy), Jason Ray, Richie Robnett, Justin Sellers, and the enigmatic Matt Sulentic.

This system was looking rather dehydrated until the 2007 draft class, which I like a lot, and the blockbuster trade with Arizona.

Again, don't get all pissy about exact placement on this list. The grades are more important than someone being ranked 15th instead of 13th.

Of course, full statistics and reports on over 1,000 other players will be in the 2008 Baseball Prospect Book, now available for pre-order. Ships the first Monday in February!