I am fairly certain he won't be as good, but an OPS in the .675 to .725 range is a reasonable expectation and that is a far cry more than anyone should have ever expected from Paul Janish coming into 2011. My expectations for Janish were below .600 with .625 being the top in an every day role. Janish fooled everyone with his decent success in limited time last year and it seems many, including our celebrated GM, assumed that was something he could sustain with every day play. Seems silly when one of the knocks on him his entire career is that he wears down when he's out there all the time. There was a lot of reason to call for help from the outside coming into 2011.
This year, Cozart will be coming into the season having shown more pop, more speed and better overall hitting as a minor leaguer (especially in the upper minors) than Janish ever did. Couple that with Janish in a limited role for a game here and there or for a short stretch while Cozart is dinged up and there is reason to expect better production all around. These guys will not be world beaters. There is no reason to expect Tulo, Hanley, Rollins or Reyes style production, but at this point there are holes to fill on this team that will not be addressed by doing anything at SS. Whatever type of trading capital and dollars are to be expended should go toward a proven starter with enough juice to be a pitcher a team would feel good about starting a play-off game (even if its not game 1) and somebody to hit 4th or 5th unless some miracle allows Alonso to be that guy with Votto and Bruce. The defense at SS will be more than adequate and the offense will be acceptable.