Analyzing Giants’ trades, Mets’ signings

As spring training quickly approaches:

The Mets signed two free agents who were linked to the Giants, right fielder Jay Bruce and third baseman Todd Frazier. Instead of free agency, the Giants filled the holes by trading for Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria, whose combined average annual salary is $32 million (excluding money the Giants received in the trades). The two Mets average $21.5 million. Money aside, which twosome is preferable? Answers due in September.

Nice to see so much emotion from a usually even-keeled Mike Trout, who was at the Super Bowl wildly rooting for his hometown Eagles. This might be an offseason the Angels’ center fielder remembers. His baseball team signed Japan’s Shohei Ohtani, his football team won the Super Bowl and his fiancee married him. On Sunday’s telecast, Al Michaels mistakenly called Trout a “California” Angel. In Michaels’ defense, it’s geographically more accurate than calling him a Los Angeles Angel.

The Giants open the season at Dodger Stadium, and wouldn’t it be glorious if Pat Venditte, 32, came out of the bullpen to pitch right-handed to Buster Posey and left-handed to Brandon Belt? The Dodgers invited the switch-pitcher, who broke in with the 2015 A’s, to camp as a nonroster man. He’s a long shot, but we can dream.

Vladimir Guerrero will enter the Hall of Fame as an Angel. Bummer. He was a better allaround player and played longer in Montreal (1,004 games to 846). He hit .323 with 234 homers and a .978 OPS with the Expos, .319 with 173 homers and a .927 OPS with the Angels. His defense began slipping in Anaheim, where he had 240 games as a designated hitter. It’s more lucrative being the first enshrined Angel than the fourth Expo, and the Nationals, whom the Expos became in 2005, won’t honor him as will the Angels.

Jim Thome will have an Indians cap on his Hall of Fame plaque and without Chief Wahoo. The Indians took decades to finally dump the offensive logo (though not until 2019). Thome made the call right away.

Bartolo Colon, why couldn’t you have signed with a National League team instead of forcing us to wait for interleague Rangers games to watch you swing for the fences?