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I think Lopez is a clear case of a player where people see what they want to see.  I think this plays back to people's response to him in A-ball.  Let's break him down into offense and defense.
On the defensive side of the ball, Lopez doesn't look good, but the zone statistics show him to be average.  Those pre-disposed to not want to invest in Jose saw the very negative UZR the first two months of the year, saw a trend in declining range, and declared him a first baseman with the glove.  But there isn't a trend in Jose's defensive statistics.  Based on UZR range, Jose has one bad year (2008), and otherwise is average.  A trip to the Hardballtimes and there RZR rates shows Jose being a poor second baseman this year, but slightly better than average last year in the AL.  So if you want to use statistics that are widely available, Jose is an average second baseman with the glove.
Now for the bat.  Jose has the hands and wrists of hitter.  He is consistently in the top forty in the majors for contact rate, swinging at balls both in and out of the zone.  While contact is better than not, the type of contact you make is the key.
OPS+ will slightly overrate a player like Jose, because his value comes from slugging not OBP, not significantly mind you but slightly.  So I would say Jose has demonstrated he is a slightly below average hitter, with the potential to be better, but I don't see how he can be a lot better without a change in approach or a commitment to conditioning like Raul Ibanez.  To be better than league average, Jose is either going to need to have a slugging average pushing 0.500 or sustain an batting average of 0.300+, because he's never going to walk.
To sustain the average, he would benefit greatly from a rigorous workout regime, to revive his infield hit rate (not THAT is a trend see fangraphs).  Without a change in approach, I don't see how he can develop into a consistent threat to hit 25 home runs a year, particularly at Safeco.  By change in approach I don't mean becoming selective, I mean learning to load-up in the right counts more consistently.  I think this is possible, but I wouldn't bet on it occuring.
If I had to guess, the real crux for Jose is why does he swing so early in the count when he can apparently make contact with most everything and therefore should be able to manage being behind in the count?  Is he afraid to hit with two strikes and sufficiently benign results occur when he puts the ball in play that pitchers aren't fine with him?  Is his fear of two strike counts reasonable?  Does he not have the pitch recognition to lay off the splitters in the dirt and the low and away sliders, or does he have an unwarranted fear of not putting the ball in play?  Is his approach the best route to maximizing his skills or does he have the ability to minimize the cost of being more selective with the first two pitches of each at bat?  Rember, to get more 2-0 and 3-1 counts means more 1-2 and 0-2 counts.
So moving forward, Jose Lopez is a league average player, and I wouldn't be looking to move him, but I would be planning on having other options in place when free agency arrives.