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You ask who can replace 3/4 hitter with glove and win?
Try the 1991 Braves.
In 1990, the last place Braves had a 90 OPS+.  Their 3B was Jim Presley, who hit 19 HRs and had 72 RBI that year, (both 3rd on the team).  The club had an ERA+ of 88.
In 1991, they picked up Sib Bream to play first (moving Justice to the OF to plug the hole from dumping franchise icon Dale Murphy).  They also brought in Rafael Belliard to replace the 101 OPS+ bat of Jeff Blauser - and brought in Terry Pendleton - a glove-first 3B, who had posted a .601 OPS (65 OPS+) in '90 with St. Louis.
Pendleton would hit 22 HRs and win the MVP award, with a 139 OPS+, (finished with a 90 OPS+ for his career).
While the FA moves were across-the-board focused on defense, the offense improved from a 90 OPS+ to a 98 OPS+ that year.  The pitching went from 88 to 112 ERA+.
There is a difference between "acquiring" offense ... and "getting" offense.  The Braves acquired a veteran glove and GOT an MVP bat.  But, the Braves got "career years" out of about 6 regulars.  The offense would swoon to 93 OPS+ the following year, but they continued to make the playoffs for 15.
Complaining about not getting a #4 hitter misses the point.  The Ms acquired three starters for 2010:  Kotchman (career .332 OBP) -- Bradley (career .366 OBP) -- Figgins (career .360 OBP).  The club made a push to improve team OBP.  Kotchman is at .300, Bradley BELOW .300, and Figgins at .331.  They didn't GET what they acquired.
If the club gets a combined .350 OBP from those guys, who knows what the offense looks like.  But, when you acquire three guys to help with OBP, and you remain dead last in OBP as all three have career disaster seasons ... then would it be reasonable to say ... "If they had acquired Pena and Aaron Hill and those two had combined for 15 HRs, then the problem with the offense was too much emphasis on power instead of OBP?
If there is an underlying problem with the Ms ... going back quite a ways ... and continuing to linger under Z ... it is that success is not JUST about talent acquisition.  It is about getting talent *AND* about getting the most out of whatever talent you have.
CLEARLY, the Ms have gotten far, far less out of the talent they have had for MOST of the past half decade.  The litany of export successes and import failures is amazing.  IMO, the Ms (and their fans), have too long blamed "the park" for this reality.  The truth is the culture of veteran entitlement was FAR more entrenched than the single 2009 season, (which focused heavily on Griffey and Sweeney), than was believed.