Long wait for Erik Bedard should be worthwhile

The Safeco Field roof was closed and outside a chilly wind was blowing the rain showers sideways. In other words, it was February in Seattle.

But in the bowels of the stadium, in the interview room where so many previous new Mariners have been introduced to Seattle, it felt like baseball season again.

On the podium, on this dreary Friday, pitcher Erik Bedard sat next to general manager Bill Bavasi. Together at last.

The trade that took the entire offseason to complete was done.

The Mariners had acquired left-handed starter Bedard from Baltimore for right fielder Adam Jones, reliever George Sherrill and pitching prospects Chris Tillman, Tony Butler and Kam Mickolio.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but it might have been up and running in less time than it took to complete this deal. Stadiums are erected quicker. Peace talks are less complex.

But all good things are worth waiting for, and for the Mariners this is a good thing.

For the first time in five years, they will enter a season with a real shot at the playoffs. For the first time in forever, they will have a starting rotation that can hold its own with any in the game.

Bedard, Felix Hernandez, Carlos Silva, Miguel Batista and Jarrod Washburn. It's the kind of rotation that makes this summer rich with possibilities.

And the top of the rotation Bedard and Hernandez — or Hernandez and Bedard — is good enough to make anybody but Boston envious. They could be dueling, dealing aces.

"You have to think, if this team gets into the playoffs, you'll have to face those guys, one-two in whatever order and that's a problem," Bedard's agent, Mark Pieper, said at Friday afternoon's news conference. "It's as good as any combination in the league."

Bedard has the liveliest left arm to come to Seattle since Randy Johnson left.

Pitching for a couple of hideous Baltimore teams, Bedard was 28-16 with a 392-to-126 strikeouts-to-walks ratio the past two years. Last season he averaged 10.73 strike outs per nine innings.

"With the addition of me, I think we could be pretty good," the soft-spoken Bedard said.

It was a daring deal, the kind that can make or break a general manager's heart.

"To go from a 60-win team, a lousy team, to 88 wins, that's not that tough," Bavasi said. "But going from 88 on, that's a little tougher and to do. You have to make some bold moves. And at 88 wins, if you don't make a bold move you have a real good chance of going back to 80 and we didn't want to do that."

After years of worries about the arms, the new concern for the Mariners will be the bats.

Thinking that Jones was the heir apparent, the Mariners didn't re-sign No. 3 hitter and right fielder Jose Guillen. They will start the season with a hole in the No. 3 hole and questions ranging from first baseman Richie Sexson's health to new right fielder Brad Wilkerson's durability.

But pitching wins games and, finally, the Mariners appear to be pitching rich and ready to challenge the Los Angeles Angels in the American League West.

"It's time to go out and try to win," Bavasi said.

Bedard, who will be 29 next month, won't become a free agent until after the 2009 season, but he seems to be a perfect long-term fit for the Mariners.

He is a low-key guy in a low-key city. Safeco Field is a pitcher's park. And, after years of losing leads because of Baltimore's leaky bullpen, Bedard will have J.J. Putz to save him.

"It's a good city, low-key. His personality certainly suits that," Pieper said. "And then you think about the circumstances under which he was pitching in Baltimore.

"A little bit tougher ballpark. A very difficult division. Some run-support issues. Bullpen issues. If you add that all up, you have to think that once he gets comfortable here it's going to be that much better."

Some fans will argue that the Mariners bankrupted the future, by giving Baltimore their best young every day player, Jones, and two prime pitching prospects, Tillman and Butler.

But earlier in this decade, they worried about bankrupting the future, and by their inaction, they bankrupted that future.

And they still kept young, live wire, set-up man Brandon Morrow, catcher Jeff Clement, outfielder Wladimir Balentin and their best everyday prospect shortstop Carlos Triunfel, who turns 18 this month.

"Making this deal is the result of the farm system, the result of scouts going out and finding players that Baltimore wanted," Bavasi said. "It's a sign it [M's farm system] is in very healthy shape."

The farm system did its job. It got Bedard to Seattle. It brought a pennant race back to town.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com