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OPS+ and SLG are not the be all and end all of run scoring, moe. Until you get past that errant thinking, we're talking past each other.
Figgins hit 84...which is well below his established levels...and yes...he improved in the second half. The rest of the line-up vs. their career OPS+:
Ichiro: 113 / 117 (typical)
Gutierrez: 87 / 93 (typical, though one could argue that he was on the way up in 2009 and inexplicably took a giant step backwards)
Bradley: 80 / 113 (abject disaster)
Saunders: Untested
Figgins: 84 / 97 (well below expectations)
Los Dos Wilson: 65 / 83 (big step backwards)
Jose Lopez: 71 / 104 the last three seasons combined (way...way under his norm)
Kotchman: 73 / 95 (again...way way under)
The catchers: untested rookies who did disastrously badly
Am I the only one here who thinks Z is being judged incorrectly if the blame is being placed on acquiring good fielders when we should be trying to figure out why so many of our hitters had such bad years by their own standards?
I think it's ridiculous to claim that a team with a 76 OPS+ proved that the model of "average offense and pitching plus stellar defense" can't work. Z was not trying to build a 76 OPS+...he figured he could get a 95 OPS+ out of this group of players and there was a lot of pre-season support for that notion...EVEN DOC...who is erroneously blaming the defense for the bad offense now...stood by and nodded warmly when taro and I both projected the Ms to win around 90 games this eyar based on the thought that we''d hit for a 95 OPS+ and pitch/field our way to a 115 ERA+. Doc complains about USSM rewriting history yet he's doing the same darned thing right now.