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My spidey sense has me thinking that his change after his return from bereavement is the "natural" progression based on his skill set and talent.  It's not about "adding" something new -- it's about "suppressing" some of the negatives of the Bavasi-era mindset.
How do I see him hitting 25 in Safeco?  8 HR in the Safe -- 17 on the road.  But, he'll be pounding doubles at home on a regular enough basis to support a slugging above .450. 
My crystal ball says (assuming he sticks around) - he'll have bad months where the masses will whine, "see, same old Jose", and good months where the same people will say, "Look, he's finally getting it," ... until the next bad month.  Same thing you get with Langerhans, (though a completely different hitting profile).
I think 2008 will be the most singularly consistent season for Lopez for his entire career, but likely not even CLOSE to the career year he has which eventually ends up looking a lot like Hall's.  He's been up so long, people forget he's still only 25.  That's the age where the "average" brain finishes developing.  Assuming that occured while he was out, (for sake of argument), he's had two months to actually work on his game with his "finished" brain.
(Just fyi, my final shot of maturity when I turned my wandering life around and became responsible was at age 27).
What I don't expect is many more .500-something OPS months.  I think he'll be inconsistent, but he'll have .660 months and 1080 months.  Ultimately, it'll be how he deals with the ups and downs that'll determine his aggregate.  The REAL question for me is whether he'll get a maturity "patience growth spurt".  No, he's not gonna become Abreu or Dunn ... I'm talking Soriano growth, where he just actually learns "a little" of what he's getting suckered worst on, and lays off ONLY that, (which considering his non-existent walk rate - could mean doubling it from ... Steve Wonder to Mr. McGoo).