For Strasburg, yet another season of dominance and injury

As we transition into offseason mode here, we're reviewing each significant player on the Nationals roster. We continue today with Stephen Strasburg, who was on track for his best season in the majors before an elbow injury abruptly shut him down.

PLAYER REVIEW: STEPHEN STRASBURG

Age on opening day 2017: 28

How acquired: First-round pick, 2009 draft

MLB service time: 6 years, 118 days

2016 salary: $10.4 million

Contract status: Signed for $15 million in 2017-18, $35 million in 2019, $25 million in 2020, $15 million in 2021-22, $45 million in 2023. $10 million signing bonus in 2019. Salaries deferred in 2019 ($30 million), 2020 ($10 million) and 2023 ($30 million), paid out $10 million per year from 2024-30. Strasburg may opt out of contract after 2019 or 2020.

2016 stats: 15-4, 3.60 ERA, 24 GS, 0 CG, 147.2 IP, 119 H, 59 R, 59 ER, 15 HR, 44 BB, 183 SO, 2 HBP, 1.104 WHIP, 3.3 WAR

Quotable: "Your arm works a little bit differently when you do have (Tommy John) surgery like that. I had it when I was young, so I think my body was physically in a different spot. I am getting older, going out there and doing the same weightlifting and stuff in between without really focusing on flexibility. Probably need to switch that up a little bit. Because I think that's kind of what happened over the last weeks, pretty much ever since the All-Star break. It just seemed I was losing flexibility and haven't really been getting it back." - Stephen Strasburg after being placed on DL on Aug. 22

2016 analysis: This was the year it was all coming together for Stephen Strasburg, the year in which he not only would perform like one of the sport's best pitchers through the entire regular season but also lead the Nationals staff through a prolonged postseason run.

After a win over the Diamondbacks on Aug. 1, Strasburg was 15-1 with a 2.63 ERA. Fewer than one batter per inning was reaching base against him. He had 161 strikeouts over the course of only 133 2/3 innings. He was the prohibitive favorite to win the first Cy Young Award of his career. And he had a brand-new $175 million contract extension, a development that shocked most everybody who had followed him for years and always assumed he'd leave as a free agent.

And then it all fell apart in swift and dramatic fashion. Strasburg was roughed up in three consecutive August starts, including the worst outing of his professional life (nine runs allowed in 1 2/3 innings at Colorado). He was scratched from his next scheduled start in Baltimore and placed on the disabled list with what the Nationals termed a "sore right elbow." He returned to pitch only two weeks later, without making any rehab starts, and looked sharp until he winced upon throwing a pitch in the third inning against the Braves and walked off the mound with what initially looked like a serious arm injury.

That injury wound up being diagnosed as a strained flexor mass, the area between the elbow and forearm that includes both muscles and tendons. The Nationals didn't rule Strasburg out for the postseason, and he continued through his rehab process until the team was eliminated, but the odds of him returning in 2016 were slim at best.

2017 outlook: Strasburg will come to spring training in February once again after not finishing the previous season for health reasons. The Nationals said he doesn't need any surgery and will be full-go throughout the offseason and spring, but until he's back on the mound facing hitters in game situations and showing no signs of discomfort, the worry is going to be in the back of everyone's minds.

If he is fine, Strasburg will enter 2017 in the same position he's been in the last two years: as one of the best No. 2 starters in baseball, pitching behind ace Max Scherzer. There's plenty of reason to believe he'll continue to be the pitcher we've seen throughout, and that his prolonged stretch of dominance from late 2015 through mid-2016 was the culmination of all that.

And yet it's always going to feel like Strasburg is one pitch away from getting injured again. At his best, he regularly has dealt with seemingly minor ailments that have prevented him from topping 183 innings in all but one of his major league seasons. At his worst, he has walked off the mound more than once in obvious pain, needing to miss a significant chunk of time.

Strasburg is Nationals property for seven more years (unless he chooses to opt out of his contract after either the 2019 or 2020 seasons). He has been in the big leagues for all or part of the last seven years. But he remains as much an enigma as ever, forever teetering the fine line between being one of the best pitchers in baseball and an injury-prone hurler who always seems to be sidetracked by something.