A bunch of mediocre guys or one Garrett Atkins?

I read in the Plain Dealer today the Cleveland Indians had an off-season budget of $3-5 million to spend on players.
So far, they have aded Austin Kearns, Mike Redmond, Jason Grilli, to contracts that would total almost $3 million if they all play at the major league level.
Now, compare that with what the Baltimore Orioles did. They signed Garrett Atkins to a one-year deal for $4.5 million, with an $8.5 million option for next year.
Atkins, 30, is a career .298 hitter over seven major league seasons, all with Colorado. He has a career .811 OPS.
In 2006, Atkins set career highs with a .329 average, 48 doubles, 25 home runs and 120 RBI. He helped the Rockies to their first World Series appearance in 2007, where he homered in Game 4 of the Fall Classic.
However, last season, he struggled, hitting only .226 with 9 home runs and 48 RBI.
I am going to assume that last year was a fluke, even though the Rockies declined to offer him a contract, essentially dumping him without getting anything in return.
Signing Atkins is a little bit risky because of his poor showing in 2009.
But I would much rather take a $5 million chance on someone with a career OPS of .810 than on Kearns, Grilli and Redmond, who probably won't reach that number in 2010 unless you add their totals together.
Atkins' average season, from baseball-reference.com, is .289, 21 home runs and 100 RBI.
Now, if the payroll issue alone wasn't bad enough, there's a baseball piece to this discussion, too: Who will the Indians play at third in 2010?
Probably either Jhonny Peralta or Andy Marte.
Peralta's average season is .266/19/80. He had a horrible 2009 and he has always been prone to long slumps.
Marte hasn't played a lot. In a total of 668 major league at-bats, his totals are .215/15/77.
So, here are your choices:
Atkins or Marte or Peralta at third or;
Atkins or Kearns, Grilli and Redmond on the payroll.
In both cases, I say Atkins.