Cody Ross joined the San Francisco Giants in August of 2010 after being waived by the Florida Marlins. He then somehow became an offensive powerhouse for the rest of the regular season and throughout the postseason. He brought in two of the team’s winning runs in the team’s three victories in the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves. He hammered two homers off of Roy Halladay in the first game of the NLCS against the Philadelphia Phillies and went on to be the MVP of that series, batting .350, as the Giants went on to win the World Series against the Texas Rangers.

That kind of offensive power didn’t stick with him for the 2011 season. He hit .240 with 14 homers and 25 doubles in 121 games for the Giants this past season. And now the 31-year-old veteran of five teams is looking for a new home.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the Atlanta Braves have some interest in Ross but “would want the price to keep coming down.” The word from the AJC is that Ross “wants something in the neighborhood of the two-year, $10 million deal that Dave DeJesus got” from the Chicago Cubs. But it’s hard to see that happening.

The paper also notes that Ross is said to be talking to the Oakland Athletics about a possible deal.

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Related: Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Miami Marlins, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers

Jimmy Rollins just re-upped for three more years with the Philadelphia Phillies. That alone was hardly an Earth-shattering move. But it was one of significance to the Atlanta Braves.

Thanks to their epic September free fall, the Braves finished second to the Phillies in the National League East, which has been widely documented. What has gone largely overlooked is that the Braves finished closer to fourth place (12 games ahead of the New York Mets) than to first (13 behind the Phillies).

The third-place team, the Washington Nationals, should be stronger with Stephen Strasburg coming back from arm surgery and right fielder Jayson Werth possibly coming back from oblivion.

And the fifth-place team, the now-Miami Marlins, served notice that they don’t intend to remain at the bottom. The Marlins’ makeover, to coincide with their plush new ballpark, began with acquiring manager Ozzie Guillen from the Chicago White Sox. That move alone means nothing without players. But the significance was that Guillen knew the Marlins were committed to spending money to win. Sure enough, the Marlins signed shortstop Jose Reyes, starting pitcher Mark Buehrle and closer Heath Bell. Suddenly, a team that was just 10 wins short of a winning season has to be considered a threat to at least contend for the NL wildcard.

The Mets, despite losing Reyes, figure to be stronger after overhauling their bullpen. Then there’s the aforementioned Phillies. As if winning 102 games and running away with their fifth consecutive division title weren’t enough, the Phillies signed one of the game’s dominant closers in Jonathan Papelbon. Oh, and they won 102 games with Roy Oswalt, their No. 4 starting pitcher (that’s another story) spending a chunk of the season on the disabled list and second baseman Chase Utley playing hurt.

And the Braves?

To date, their big offseason acquisition has been the signing of Robert Fish, a hard-throwing lefty. Maybe Fish will turn out to be another Eric O’Flaherty. Or maybe he’ll be a left-handed Chris Reitsma. Even if he’s Jonny Venters, Fish likely won’t have a great impact on the Braves’ bullpen because, well, because O’Flaherty and Venters will get most of the work.

The Braves entered the offseason with two glaring needs: another strong right-handed bat for the outfield and more offense at shortstop.

Unless they make a move, the Braves will address those needs with a retread (Matt Diaz) in left field and a rookie (Tyler Pastornicky) at shortstop.

Maybe they’re not done shopping. Maybe Frank Wren, the Braves general manager, is merely bluffing when he says this team, as constituted, can overtake the Phillies.

The Braves don’t have the deep pockets to compete with other big spenders. But they do have an asset — actually, a collection of assets — that even the richest teams in baseball covet. They have a treasure trove of pitchers. Young pitchers. Young dominant pitchers who could become All-Stars for a decade.

Randall Delgado. Julio Teheran. Arodyz Vizcaino. Mike Minor. All projected to be top-of-the-rotation starters. This is in addition to Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson, Brandon Beachy and Kris Medlen, all established big-league starters. Medlen is the old man of the bunch. He just turned 26. That doesn’t include former Glenwood, CVCC and Auburn star Tim Hudson, who’s still going strong at 36.

The bullpen, as noted, is equally loaded. O’Flaherty, Venters and Craig Kimbrel are baseball’s best bullpen trio. Cristhian Martinez and Anthony Varvaro would be stars on most other teams.

One of baseball’s truisms is that you never can have too much pitching. An arm can go out on one pitch.

But it’s also true that you have to score runs to win, and the Braves’ lineup has too many holes to keep pace with the Phillies.

It’s time for Wren to dig into that treasure trove of pitching and deal for a legitimate right-handed bat in left field. If not, this time next year, they might be looking up at more teams than the Phillies.

– Guerry Clegg is an independent correspondent. You can write to him at sports@ledger-enquirer.com

While the Los Angeles Angels and Miami Marlins have been creating headlines with their signings of Albert Pujols, C.J. Wilson and Jose Reyes, countless teams have been slow movers. Among those teams are the Atlanta Braves. The Braves stopped playing ball once the calendar changed to September this past season, leaving fans hoping for money to be spent and changes to be made.

To start the offseason, the Braves ate a big portion of Derek Lowe’s contract and shipped him to Cleveland for Chris Jones. Jones pitched for Single-A Kinston in 2011, going 7-1 with a 3.36 ERA in 43 games. The Braves also saw their ace, Tim Hudson go under the knife to fix his ailing back. Add in the doubt to the health of Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens, and the Braves rotation could be quite different in 2012.

Since the Braves season ended, rumors started about possibly trading Jurrjens and/or Martin Prado. While those rumors haven’t led to anything as of yet, for the right price, both could see themselves playing elsewhere next season. What moves have actually been close this far for the Braves?

Earlier in the offseason, the Braves picked up the option on infielder Eric Hinske, while declining the option on center fielder, Nate McLouth. Hinske hit .233 with 10 home runs and 28 RBIs, while McLouth hit .228 with four home runs and 16 RBIs. McLouth has never been able to get going in Atlanta, and was expendable with the acquisition of Michael Bourn.

Relief pitcher Peter Moylan and utility infielder Brooks Conrad were both non-tendered contracts, making them free agents. Moylan appeared in just 13 games last season, spending most of the time on the disabled list. He was 2-1 with a 3.24 ERA. Conrad, the 2010 playoffs goat for the Braves had a terrible season, hitting just .223 with four home runs and 13 RBIs.

The Braves appear to be looking at prospect Tyler Pastornicky as their starter at shortstop, as they allowed Alex Gonzalez to sign with the Milwaukee Brewers. The defensive stud suffered through a horrible offensive campaign, hitting just .241 with 15 home runs and 56 RBIs.

In a division that has seen the Washington Nationals improve over the years, Miami and the Philadelphia Phillies improve this offseason, the National League East could be a scary division to play in. Atlanta needs to start making moves soon, or they could see a fourth place finish in 2012.

For access to Atlanta Braves season recaps from 1990-present, a look at trades that changed Braves history, or a look at the greatest award winners in team history, go here for easier access.

More from this contributor:

All-Braves Team

Top Athletes to Return from Retirement and have an Impact

Braves 2012 Starting Rotation

Remembering Skip Caray

Rise and fall of Andruw Jones

Hobson Lopes has been a life-long Atlanta Braves fan, thanks to TBS, and can be followed on Twitter @HobsonLopes.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

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Lowe pounded again, Braves routed by Phillies

By PAUL NEWBERRY/AP Sports Writer

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves are doing their best to give away what looked like a certain playoff berth just a few weeks ago.

Derek Lowe had another miserable outing, surrendering five runs in four-plus innings, and the Philadelphia Phillies romped to a 7-1 victory Tuesday night that left the Braves on the brink going to the final day of the regular season.

Chase Utley, Hunter Pence and Jimmy Rollins homered to back a three-hit outing by Roy Oswalt (9-10), who tuned up for the playoffs with a strong performance in a largely disappointing season.

The Braves lost their fourth in a row and eighth in 11 games, sending them to the final day of the regular season assured of no more than a one-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals, who were at Houston.

Atlanta had an 8-game lead just three weeks ago, but it will be no more than one going to the final game

ATLANTA – Kirk Gibson tried to push buttons and pull levers with his batting order Friday, rearranging his slumping hitters with his hotter ones, reacting quickly to an offensive drought that began just a few days ago.

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Diamondbacks-Braves photos | Friday’s box | MLB scoreboard

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He might as well have been shaking up an already-open, day-old can of soda. The Diamondbacks still were flat.

They put more pressure on the Atlanta Braves in a 4-2 loss on Friday night than they did in the previous three games in Philadelphia, but the end result was another loss, their third in four games on a road trip everyone knew would be difficult – and thus far, has been.

But that silver lining known as the flat-lining San Francisco Giants popped up again, this time on Turner Field’s out-of-town scoreboard high beyond left field. The Giants were defeated once again, dropping a 6-0 decision to the Houston Astros, thus remaining 2 1/2 games behind the Diamondbacks in the National League West standings.

Gibson went to great lengths to praise the performance of his team, despite the fact that it failed to score at least three runs for the third consecutive game and left 10 men on base.

He said they “battled” and “grinded.” He said he was “proud” and that they “did a hell of a job.” He even summoned right fielder Justin Upton, who grounded out to end the game, into his office after the game, ostensibly to tell him not to beat himself up for not coming through against Braves closer Craig Kimbrel.

“That closer, look at his numbers,” Gibson told reporters. “But we didn’t concede to him. We battled till the end.”

With the tying runs aboard, Upton got ahead 2-1 against Kimbrel, the rookie with the 100-mph fastball. But Kimbrel threw consecutive sliders, and Upton bounced out in front of the plate. He briefly popped into Gibson’s office before speaking with reporters.

“Me and Gibby were just talking about him,” Upton said of Kimbrel. “Guys are hitting .170 off him. Obviously I want to get a hit in that situation, but if you look at the big picture he’s gotten everybody out. The moral of the story is you don’t get to that guy (i.e., get the lead early). If you don’t get to him in the ninth inning, you might be all right.”

Gibson elevated Gerardo Parra from No. 8 to No. 2 in the lineup, but Parra went 0 for 3 before being lifted for pinch-hitter Collin Cowgill in the seventh. Gibson also dropped Chris Young from the fifth spot to No. 7; he went 0 for 4. First baseman Lyle Overbay, the hero Tuesday night against Roy Halladay, struck out four times.

Gibson, who this season has expressed frustration for his hitters’ inability to deliver with men in scoring position, this time forgave them for it.

“We’ve won one game on this trip,” Gibson said. “That’s what it is. It’s not a big deal. We’re not going to panic. We played a good game today. We had a lot of pressure on them. We were 3 for 14 with runners in scoring position. We left a ton of guys on. They kept battling. We didn’t roll over. That’s a good sign. We’re fine.”

Diamondbacks rewind

Kelly’s night: Slumping second baseman Kelly Johnson had three hits, his first multi-hit game since July 31. He entered the day with a .208 average, the lowest among league qualifiers.

But he singled to center in the third and to right in the fifth off Braves starter Derek Lowe, then dropped down a bunt single to lead off the ninth against closer Craig Kimbrel.

“We know about their bullpen, and at that point putting any kind of pressure it seemed, obviously, worth a chance,” Johnson said. “Fortunately it rolled the way it did, and I got on there.”

Homers sink Hudson: All four runs the Braves scored against Diamondbacks right-hander Daniel Hudson came via the long ball, but Hudson seemed upset only about one, a two-run shot by Brian McCann off a change-up in the third inning.

“That was probably the only pitch I want back all night,” he said. “It was down, but it was middle of the zone and he crushed it.”

Keep battling: Manager Kirk Gibson noted that his lineup made the Braves throw 160 pitches, an indication to him that hitters weren’t giving away at-bats.

Willie Bloomquist had a good night at the plate, reaching base four times, including in a ninth-inning at-bat against Kimbrel in which he walked on seven pitches, all 98-mph fastballs.

View from the press box

Chipper Jones said Thursday that the amount of young pitching talent the Braves have is “almost embarrassing.” After one game, it’s easy to see what he means. Closer Craig Kimbrel is a Rookie of the Year candidate, and young relievers Jonny Venters and Arodys Vizcaino are filthy. Assuming the Braves reach the postseason, they look like they’ll be a tough team to face in a short series.