After season of struggles, Solís' future with Nats is tenuous

As our offseason coverage kicks into high gear, we're going to review each significant player on the Nationals roster. We continue today with Sammy Solís, who could not take advantage of his many opportunities out of the bullpen.

PLAYER REVIEW: SAMMY SOLÍS

Age on opening day 2019: 30

How acquired: Second-round pick, 2010 draft

MLB service time: 3 years, 52 days

2018 salary: $560,300

Contract status: Arbitration-eligible in 2019, free agent in 2022

2018 stats: 1-2, 6.41 ERA, 56 G, 0 SV, 39 1/3 IP, 43 H, 28 R, 28 ER, 7 HR, 18 BB, 44 SO, 4 HBP, 1.551 WHIP, -0.2 fWAR, -0.6 bWAR

Quotable: "You've just got to keep going. There's really no alternative. Just keep hitting spots and keep working. I'm not giving up. I'm not giving up on my teammates, and I know they believe in me. Obviously, it's tough right now. Every miss is being punished. I've just got to keep working and make a few adjustments. Maybe there's one adjustment I haven't seen yet." - Solís

2018 analysis: As one of four left-handers in the Nationals' opening day bullpen, Solís was going to be asked to do a variety of things for the club. At times he would be used to match up against one or two opposing lefties, but at times he would be needed to pitch multiple innings. In the end, he wasn't particularly effective in either role.

Left-handed batters were astonishingly potent against Solís this season, hitting .329 with a .398 on-base percentage and .993 OPS. (For comparison's sake, only four qualifying major league batters produced an OPS that high this season: Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez and Christian Yelich.)

Solís was much more effective against right-handed hitters, who batted .224 with a .337 on-base percentage and .719 OPS against him. But manager Davey Martinez wasn't about to use him in only reverse-split situations, so Solís continued to get opportunities to retire left-handed batters as well and could not take advantage of it.

Even though he had used up options in three previous seasons, Solís was the rare player with a fourth option year (a result of all the time he missed due to injuries earlier in his career). So the Nationals actually wound up sending him down to Triple-A twice during the summer. They hoped he'd be able to work on some things in Syracuse and come back improved, but that didn't happen. Solís was scored upon in seven of his final eight appearances for the season and retired only 15 of the final 33 batters he faced.

2019 outlook: You can't say the Nationals haven't given Solís ample opportunities to make it in this league. He has 141 total appearances over the last four seasons, during which time he has produced a 4.51 ERA and 1.386 WHIP.

This season was a true low point for the 30-year-old, though. In the past, he could point to injuries as at least part of the reason for his struggles. But he actually stayed healthy this entire season and was removed from the roster only when he was sent to the minors.

So where does that leave Solís in the organization's eyes heading into 2019? Well, he's now out of options, so he'll either have to make the opening day roster or be exposed to waivers. He's also eligible for arbitration for the first time, which means his salary will go up from the league near-minimum he had been earning.

It feels like the Nationals have done everything they can to get something positive out of their 2010 second-round pick. And so it may be time to cut the cord, perhaps in the form of a non-tender at the end of this month.