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Players don't pick their contract location by searching for big name namagers.  If they did, then certainly Mike Hargrove would have attracted the big name FAs more than he did.  Players pick teams based on how well they get along with a coaching staff, sure.  Part of the negotiation process includes interviewing with the guys who would be your coaches...and on this front, Wakamatsu, first-year nobody or not, has a big advantage just as Ron Washington does in Texas and Terry Francona - no-name schmoe that he was before 2004 - did in Boston.  Wakamatsu is a GREAT face to this franchise.  Absolutely outstanding with people, especially with his players.
Playing WITH a great player?  That can sometimes get involved, but considering how antisocial Bedard is, how much he operates more or less on his own, involving himself in the team only as much as he chooses, no, I don't think it matters for Bedard, although having Griffey around might have helped improve the palpable atmosphere in the clubhouse.
Seattle's reputation is not currently "30 years of losing"...it's "they had some good years a while back and they need to rebuild to do it again."  On that point, I agree there are more desirable locations for most free agents, but since Bedard is getting to see first hand that the Mariners are moving in the right direction here, I doubt he's going to be thinking that himself.  He's going to be thinking he could be part of turning around a franchise.