2020 Topps Now Road to Opening Day

As I do most years, I picked up the Topps Now Road to Opening Day Red Sox team set.  This year, there was no autograph version of the set, which was a tad disappointing.  There was the addition of a parallel in every set though, so there's that.

Up first is the parallel:

Andrew Benintendi.  Oddly, this card lists him as a catcher.  I'm pretty sure Benintendi has never played catcher professionally.  This card is numbered to 25.

And now for the set:

1.  Andrew Benintendi.

2.  Alex Verdugo.  I was surprised to see him in the set.  According to the checklist, he was not going to be in it and Dustin Pedroia would have a card.  Nothing against Pedroia, but I would prefer to see the team's top acquisition than a guy who might be lucky to play this year at all (assuming there is a season).

3.  J.D. Martinez.

4.  Jackie Bradley Jr.

5.  Xander Bogaerts. 

6.  Michael Chavis.  My wife likes this card.

7.  Rafael Devers.

8.  Darwinzon Hernandez.  Nice to see him get in the set, even if his role is less than clear.  Will he start?  Close?  Set up?

9.  Christian Vazquez.  My wife also likes this card.

10.  Chris Sale.

11.  Eduardo Rodriguez.

12.  Nathan Eovaldi.  When healthy, he's terrific.  Unfortunately, he's rarely healthy.

13.  Mitch Moreland.  I like Moreland, I really do, but I was surprised to see Boston bring him back, especially with Chavis around.  That kind of muddies the waters with the bench roles, impacting the chances of Tzu-Wei Lin and Marco Hernandez, as well as Rule V draftee Jonathan Arauz.  You can't have all three.  Even two is stretching it, especially with Chavis around.

14.  Ryan Brasier.  I am surprised to see Brasier here instead of Brandon Workman.  Brasier was a revelation in 2018 but was returned to the minors at one point in 2019.  Workman on the other hand has the inside track on the closer role.

15.  Matt Barnes.  Barnes is Workman's primary rival in getting the closer role, but he generally does much better as a setup man.

I would have liked to see a couple of the other new guys.  Jose Peraza, Martin Perez, Collin McHugh, Kevin Plawecki and Jonathan Lucroy are all on the team this year.  Perhaps they could have gotten a couple of them in.