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My position:
 
I think G asks the absolute correct question.  Is Bedard the smart choice to trade THIS YEAR?  IMO, he is.  The reason -- there are two options, trading youth or trading experience.  Experience is more expensive, so most of the arguments tend to focus on the $ or $/WAR factors.  And those are good things to consider.  But, for me, the primary factor that tends to get lost in the static is ... do you *KNOW* what you've already got?
 
In this particular case, I'm talking about the offense.  The argument has been raised that you should not judge where the offense stands at this instant because it has morphed so much since day one.  Great argument.  But saying it isn't the same as the April offense is NOT the same as saying - "it's good" - or even "it's better".  To make those claims, one must extrapolate the production of a BUNCH of rookies forward.  That's a fool's errand.  Heck, I wouldn't give a plug nickel to anyone attempting to projecting the production of Ichiro and Figgins for the rest of 2011.  And therein lies the reason that trading Bedard (as opposed to Vargas/Fister) is the ... more reasonable path (at the moment). 
 
My position is that you shouldn't be jumping to trade long term vs. short term pieces unless you have *HIGH* confidence that the trade you are making is "likely" to pay off.  For this to be the case, you need to have high confidence in the forward projection of the rest of your roster and you need high confidence of a major boost in production at the position you're acquiring.
 
The second point there is why I believe SP acquisitions tend to pay larger dividends in terms of pennant chases.  When you acquire an ace, he replaces the #5 pitcher.  The WAR change can be drastic - even if only over 1/3 of a season.  For offensive pieces, the waters are a lot muddier.  For the 2011 Ms, the floated scenarios mostly focus on DH.  While Cust is a disappointment - his 100 OPS+ is average, and bringing in (say) a 135 OPS+ guy is really not going to make that much of a change.  If you continue to get 40 OPS+ from 3B and CF your offense is going to continue to stink.
 
Additionally, even if you trade away the #5 SP, (Vargas), he gets replaced with your #6 ... someone the club already assesses as less valuable as a starter.  The mathematical point is that in trading something of value, you are almost certainly losing some value.  How much is another arena of uncertainty.
 
The problem with attempting to push the Mariner offense upward is that the club already has 3 new bodies (Peguero, Carp, Halman), attempting to improve the OF/DH production.  The results are unknown, but the early returns from all three have been generally pleasant.  The weak link in the OF at this point "might" be Ichiro.  And the weakest link in the infield is Figgins. 
 
The big headache for Z at this moment is that you cannot ever learn what you're going to get out of Halman, Carp and Peguero unless you give them enough PT to answer that question.  And every scenario with the Ms making a 2011 playoff run I've seen *assumes* that Ackley comes in and adds something to the offense, (though the 2B position has a year long OPS of .721... second only to 1B).
 
It has been suggested that Kennedy move to 3B, which would mean Ackley would effectively replace Figgins' bat.  But, Figgins' glove at 3B this year has been plus ... so again, we're talking about juggling offense and adding uncertainty to the defense.  (And the massive increase in team ERA+ happens to coincide with a massive improvement in team DER ... so I for one do not consider this an idle concern).
 
For me, the ultimate example of this uncertainty is Peguero vs. LROD.  In April, many viewed LROD as a potential offensive savior.  He had some early success while others were struggling.  He was coming off an exceptional AAA performance in 2010.  Pequero was viewed by most as organizational filler and the reaction to his promotion to the big club was generally shock.  As of this moment, Peguero has a 125 OPS+ (.799 OPS), while LROD has swooned to .562 (62).  Each has 87 PAs.
 
For me, the 2011 season for the Ms has a feel oddly reminiscent of the year that Philly opted to trade away Abreu to the Yankees.  The Phils were not competitive that year UNTIL they tossed Abreu overboard, (49-55 on July 31st but won 85).  What happened the next year is they ended the Atlanta reign as NL East champs and have been an NL juggernaut since.  Instead of trading youth for experience, they opted for the other option.  They ended up playing great for the rest of that season anyway.
 
The known fragility of Bedard and the risk his arm could implode at any moment is just one more reason to get as much as you can out of him while the getting is good.