I think you bring up a good point about the difference in the edge needed for a call compared to a push. The effect may be less than you state however since you double up 15x more often in situation (b) giving you a greater potential for future +EV. Situation A does pick up the blinds 90% which also adds to future +EV.
I think the problem is in trying to quantify how often +EV situations occur depending on your relative stack size. It seems like it would depend greatly on everyones relative stack sizes and the table dynamics, making it much too complex to generalize.
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I may be missing your point, but don't you have to produce a call scenario with the same $EV as the push scenario if you want to build an argument here? Otherwise, it just collapses to "push loose, call tight".
It's not at all clear to me that b) will necessarily be a +$EV call in a lot of situations, let alone of the same value as a).
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Heres a quick example:
Not quite 60/40s but you get the idea. Assuming perfect reads which situation is better?