As I said before, I always await Topps Update. The next scan though will show some issues with the set that fail to really grab my attention.
1. Alex Verdugo. Okay, nothing really wrong with the first card. Verdugo was acquired pretty late in the offseason in 2020. The Mookie Betts trade was finalized just prior to Spring Training, so it is not THAT surprising that this was the first opportunity to include Verdugo in his Red Sox uniform in a basic Topps set.
2. Pedro Martinez AS. Since there was no All Star Game in 2020, Topps elected to use prior All Star Games in its base set. This was kind of dumb, and pointless. Just a way to get a bunch of star players into the set.
3. Chris Sale. This is an Active Leaders card. Another way to include random star players into the set, instead of the players in their new uniforms and rookies that we all want in Update.
4. David Ortiz. This is a Home Run Derby card. Ortiz won it several years ago. See the above two explanations.
5. Mookie Betts/Gleyber Torres. What?
6. David Ortiz Foil. Here is a parallel of the Home Run Derby card.
7. Brian Johnson. For reasons I never quite understood, Johnson never pitched for Boston in 2020. The team had pitching problems and Johnson had at least been a steady pitcher in the past. It is bizarre that he appeared in this set because he never appeared for Boston that year.
8. Mitch Moreland. And the other problem. Moreland should not have been in Update. Certainly not with Boston. Moreland was Boston's starting first-baseman coming into the year and had been with the team since 2017. He was actually traded to the Padres during the season. So if Topps was going to include a card of Moreland in Update, he should have been with the Padres.
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