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I wouldn't rate Harden too much higher than Bedard.  Both have injuries that bear consideration.
 
But Harden can go in April, while Bedard looks like a 2nd half pitcher if he can go this year.
 
Personally, I'd sign both.  In the same way that I wouldn't mind signing both Nick Johnson and Branyan for a 1B/DH combo, with Griffey/Carp backin up whoever blows up in June.
 
Our rotation with Felix/Bedard/Harden as a top 3 looks WAAAY better than Felix/RRS/Morrow, or some such - especially since we still HAVE RRS and Morrow wandering around the rotation.
 
A fully healthy Bedard or Harden who could give you 230 innings + playoffs would be worth what? 16 million?  18?  20?
 
You can sign both of them for FAR less than that and cobble together a Frankenstein #1 starter to go with the #1 starter we already have.  It lets Morrow get his feet wet as a #5 and save his arm as well (if we keep him) - HE'S not a 200+ inning guy either, and I don't want him trying to start out at that number right now.
 
It requires some finessing of the pitching roster, probably dropping RRS to the pen until we need him because one of our fragile guys blows up.
 
But neither Bedard nor Harden is in line for a long-term investment.  They're strictly a bet for the next 1-2 years.  If one of them - or both of them - blow up, we're not hamstrung for half a decade.  Which in a sense is no different than if Felix goes to arb, gets 8 figures, and then has something horrible happen.  At least the bet on those arms is on talent, rather than Silva-like mediocrity.
 
Pitchers get injured.  That's the rule.  So in that sense, either you find a guy who is the exception like a Clemens or a Maddux, or you try to limit your losses on pitchers who are more like the rule.
 
The nice thing about pitchers with extensive injury history is that you get a price break, in both years and dollars.
 
We have plenty of #4-5 arms.  It's the top of the rotation that needs to be filled while we wait for Pineda/Robles/Kasparek/Cortes/JCR/WHOEVER to come through the minors healthy and give us some cheap help.
 
In the meantime, backing up Felix/Bedard/Harden with whoever cracks the rotation from the Fister/RRS/Morrow dynamic and then stuffing the pen with excess arms while we wait to see who breaks...
 
I can get behind that. 
 
And IMO we SHOULD try to get at least one of those injured-yet-awesome pitchers to come in and provide some ace-level talent to supplement the rotation for however long they can.  We need more rotational and offensive help than we can probably afford without taking some injury risks, so I'd take them gladly.  The As did well with Frank Thomas on the cheap.  Fortifying the roster with a bunch of guys who are death when they play won't help us 100% of the time (since at least some of them will be down with various ailments all year) but the aggregate help they should give us might be enough to boost us to a division crown.
 
And I'm pretty sure that's a step in the right direction while we try to groom some healthier players.
~G