Would the Nats take another flyer on Hellickson?

As our offseason coverage kicks into high gear, we're going to review each significant player on the Nationals roster. We continue today with Jeremy Hellickson, who proved a surprisingly effective acquisition when he wasn't injured.

PLAYER REVIEW: JEREMY HELLICKSON

Age on opening day 2019: 31

How acquired: Signed as free agent, March 2018

MLB service time: 8 years, 45 days

2018 salary: $2 million (plus incentives)

Contract status: Free agent

2018 stats: 5-3, 3.45 ERA, 19 GS, 0 CG, 91 1/3 IP, 78 H, 41 R, 35 ER, 11 HR, 20 BB, 65 SO, 8 HBP, 1.073 WHIP, 1.2 fWAR, 1.7 bWAR

Quotable: "All three of these injuries have been pretty frustrating. All three out of my control. I love taking the ball every fifth day and competing and just going out there with these guys. To only make 19 starts, it sucks. But I've just got to think about other things and try to get healthy." - Hellickson

2018 analysis: The Nationals' late-spring signing of Hellickson to a modest $2 million contract didn't exactly wow fans who wanted them to go after a big-name (and higher-priced) starter who could slot in behind Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg in the rotation. Turns out Hellickson was just as effective, if not more so, than most of those more expensive pitchers - with an important caveat.

Hellickson proved highly effective when he was on the mound for the Nationals. He allowed three or fewer earned runs in 18 of his 19 starts. Throw out the one outlier, and he would have owned a 2.37 ERA and 1.008 WHIP. Those are utterly dominant numbers.

But here's the caveat: Hellickson averaged only 4.8 innings per start. He completed six innings only twice. He reached the seventh inning only once. In most cases, this was by design, the Nationals having recognized how less effective he becomes when facing an opposing lineup a third time and usually pulling him from a start before he could get himself into trouble. It worked for the most part, but it also added stress to a bullpen that already was taxed.

In the end, the Hellickson signing might have been viewed as an even bigger success had he merely been able to avoid two freak injuries that cost him more than two months of time. He strained his hamstring trying to cover first base in an early-June start in Atlanta, then he sprained his wrist trying to cover the plate in a mid-August start in St. Louis. The stints on the disabled list that followed those incidents proved quite costly to the Nationals.

2019 outlook: What will the market be like for Hellickson this winter? Will club executives look at how well he performed when healthy (and when managed the way the Nats did) and believe he's worth a significant investment? Or will they look at the time he missed and the obvious flaw in his performance compared to other veteran starters and conclude they can do better?

The Nationals will be among the teams trying to make that decision. Clearly, they still need rotation help, though again the immediate focus seems to be on a strong No. 3 starter. If they believe they need more of a sure thing at the back end of the rotation, though, they could try to lure Hellickson back for another season.

Hellickson did his best to conceal his frustration with manager Davey Martinez's quick hooks of him, pointing out that he was fine with it as long as the team went on to win (the Nationals were 11-8 in games he started). But he may still prefer to go somewhere that can offer him a chance to pitch deeper into games, if for no other reason than that it ultimately increases his value for future contracts. Maybe that's not priority No. 1 for Hellickson, but it's something he's going to have to consider if the Nats come calling again.