PHILADELPHIA – With Alex Call’s resurgence at the plate since his call-up from Triple-A Rochester, Nationals manager Davey Martinez has toyed with the idea of platooning him and CJ Abrams in the leadoff spot.

The right-handed Call would lead off against left-handed starting pitchers and the lefty Abrams would lead off against righties.

But tonight, Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola provides the rare exception to that rule. Call will lead off with Abrams hitting second as Martinez tries to exploit Nola’s breaking ball: a knuckle curve he throws 31.8 percent of the time.

“Nola has been tough,” Martinez said during his pregame media session. “He's got the good breaking ball. Alex works good at-bats. See if we can get him on base for the other guys up there. But this is just one of those rarities. I do like Alex against lefties up there. But this is one guy that I really feel like the righties could have a little bit better chance just because of that big breaking ball and big changeup he has.”

Nola is 11-6 with a 3.60 ERA and 1.147 WHIP in 24 starts. But he has almost even batting average splits against righties and lefties. In fact, right-handed hitters are getting on-base at a slightly better rate (.288) than left-handers (.284).

Former Orioles general manager Andy MacPhail used to say pitching is “expensive and fragile.” Two cautionary words about spending big for a hurler.

That didn’t keep the Philadelphia Phillies from keeping one of their homegrown pitchers on Sunday and the expensive part was definitely on display. Over the last three years, right-hander Aaron Nola is 32-31 with a 4.09 ERA. But the Phillies, who drafted him seventh overall out of LSU in 2014, retained him Sunday for $172 million over seven years. Reporters said the deal does not include any option years or opt-outs.

National reporters like Jon Heyman and Jeff Passan reported that Nola could have gotten more money elsewhere and also that the Braves were in hot pursuit. And having a division rival chasing your player obviously helped pushed the Phillies to get that deal to the finish line.

And while Nola was not at the very top of this free agent pitching class, he was ranked as the No. 5 free agent by MLBTradeRumors.com and projected to get a six-year deal for $150 million. He exceeded that projection.

While Nola’s ERA was 4.46 last season, teams are clearly digging deeper than ERA numbers here and liking what they see with this pitcher. Durability is a real Nola strength. In the last six full seasons – not counting the shortened 2020 season – he has averaged a robust 194 innings, three times topping 200.

The Nationals, like pretty much every other team in the major leagues, could use some pitching help entering next season. They would love to add an experienced starter to a rotation that, while improved from a year ago, still was lacking in many ways.

Saying you’re interested in adding a veteran starter, however, is very different from actually adding a veteran starter. And the term “veteran starter” can mean a whole lot of different things.

Are we talking about a top-of-the-rotation guy, someone who could lead this staff for years to come? Are we talking about a middle-of-the-rotation guy, a solid-but-unspectacular pitcher who takes the ball every fifth day and usually gives you a chance to win? Are we talking about a back-of-the-rotation guy, a stopgap solution who may not even make it through the entire season?

We don’t know specifically yet what the Nationals have in mind. But if we look back at Mike Rizzo’s track record, we can probably get an idea about the type of pitcher he usually pursues. And the type of pitcher he usually ignores.

Since becoming general manager in 2009, Rizzo has signed nine starting pitchers as major league free agents: Jason Marquis and Chien-Ming Wang in 2010, Edwin Jackson in 2012, Dan Haren in 2013, Max Scherzer in 2015, Patrick Corbin and Anibal Sanchez in 2019, Jon Lester in 2021 and Trevor Williams in 2023.

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