Chicago Cubs could learn from Giants’ post-championship mistakes

It’s almost the same team, what’s happening?

It’s odd to look at the Giants’ current roster versus the roster of their most recent championship team.. What happened?

Their 2014 roster went as follows: Buster Posey, Brandon Belt, Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford, Pablo Sandoval, Mike Morse, Angel Pagan and Hunter Pence. That’s almost the exact same as of today’s roster swapping only Mike Morse for Gorkys Hernandez and Angel Pagan for Denard Span.

Chicago Cubs

A lot can change in two years. Need proof? Look at the 2017 version of the Giants. With the exception of Posey, every starting player has endured a massive decline in production. Belt is striking out twice as much as he used to. Crawford’s batting average and RBI totals are down. Pence is too often injured and the Giants recently brought Sandoval back [and are batting him cleanup] after the Red Sox released him. The Giants even brought fan favorite Mike Morse out of retirement in a futile attempt to recapture former glory.

A lack of prospect development

Surely an organization as storied and rich as the Giants would be able to find in-house replacements. Their number one prospect, third baseman Christian Arroyo saw time at the big league level. But, he batted a forgettable .192 with three homers in 34 games. The fact of the matter is this. San Francisco lacks a backup plan and must stick with their struggling assets.

The Cubs, however, used their prospect pool to fortify their future, adding players like reliever Justin Wilson and starter Jose Quintana. They represent elite players who are under team control until 2018 and 2020 respectively. The Cubs’ roster won’t rust like the Giants core did – Ian Happ is only 22 years old, Albert Almora Jr. is 23 and Kyle Schwarber is 24.