WASHINGTON — When the time comes, the Nationals will make a “good, market-value” offer to right-hander Stephen Strasburg, General Manager Mike Rizzo says.

Strasburg, 27, hits free agency following the 2016 season, something his agent, Scott Boras, has a proven track record of seeing through with his clients.

In February, Boras confirmed to Fox Sports the two sides weren’t actively negotiating a new contract, going as far as to say it’s “highly unlikely” that status would change before the season is up.

“We amicably agreed to a one-year deal (for 2016),” Boras said. “He’s going to pitch, and we’ll see where it goes from there. It’s something we’ll be discussing at the end of the year.”

“These guys earn their free agency by being successful big leaguers for six Major League seasons,” Rizzo told 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier on Monday.

“Stras is at the cusp of becoming a free agent,” he added. “We’ve always had a good, working relationship with Stras, he’s been a great asset to the organization. We certainly are going to have overtures and discussions with him to try and keep him here, but as we’ve seen in the past, it takes two to tango, and it takes two to make it a deal.”

Strasburg struggled early in 2015, which the team described, in part, a result of an ankle injury he suffered last spring, which eventually led to back issues and trouble with his mechanics.

“I felt like I got more consistent with my mechanics and started to understand my mechanics a little bit better, but that’s going to be an ongoing process so I’m not going to read into the numbers,” Strasburg told 106.7 The Fan.

Strasburg weathered two stints on the disabled list, and a series of premature exits from games after an “alignment issue” arose, causing him frequent discomfort on the mound. After the season, a non-cancerous growth in his back was revealed as the primary culprit — he later underwent successful offseason surgery to remove it.

He bounced back strong in the second half, going 6-2 with a 1.90 ERA in his final 10 starts to restore his stature among the league’s more dominant starting pitchers. Over his career he’s averaged a 3.09 ERA, 1.092 WHIP and 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings with 901 total strikeouts over six seasons.

“We’re going to make him a good, market-value offer at some time either in the offsesason or during the season,” Rizzo said of the No. 1 overall pick in 2009. “Stras has been receptive to it. He loves it here. He loves the fan base, he loves the city of D.C. and he, like a lot of our other players, are guys that we drafted, signed and developed and are working hard to see if we can keep them in the long-term.”

Washington hasn’t had a good run of luck retaining top homegrown talent as of late. Right-hander Jordan Zimmermann, the club’s second-round pick in 2007, rejected a five-year, $105 million extension offer from the Nationals after the 2014 season, only to sign a five-year, $110 million deal with the Detroit Tigers this past offseason.

Ian Desmond, a third-round pick by the Montreal Expos in 2004, rejected a seven-year, $107 million extension offer from the Nationals after 2013, which would have paid him an additional $89.5 million on top of the two-year extension he signed in Jan. 2014. The former Nationals shortstop recently signed a one-year, $8 million deal to play left field for the Texas Rangers.

Both players rejected Washington’s $15.8 million qualifying offers after last season.

“Talks aren’t done,” Rizzo clarified. “We’re just barely scratching the surface in communications and it’s so early in the process that it’s something that we haven’t really delved into very deeply yet.”

Strasburg assures, despite so much riding on this season for him personally, he is only focused on winning baseball games.

“I don’t think I ever played this game for the financial aspirations,” he said. “We’re very blessed with the salaries that we make across the board, but as a competitor I want to win, and I know every single other guy in this clubhouse wants to win just as bad as I do. So we’re going to focus on that, and we’re going to give it everything we have and take whatever happens.”

Follow @ChrisLingebach and @1067TheFan on Twitter.