District Daily: Nationals must re-sign Desmond, Zimmermann and Fister, or risk losing one or all

Oct 7, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; Washington Nationals shortstop

(20) rounds third and scores a run against the San Francisco Giants during the fifth inning of game four of the 2014 NLDS baseball playoff game at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Good morning DoD readers! Start off your Sunday with some great Washington Nationals articles from around the web in today’s District Daily:

Nationals must re-sign Ian Desmond, Jordan Zimmermann and Doug Fister, or risk losing one or all

(Adam Kilgore, Washington Post)

For contenders such as the Washington Nationals, the majority of baseball offseasons are spent adding pieces and replacing parts, like touching up the hull of a boat. This winter will not be like the majority of offseasons. The Nationals, even after a 96-win, division-title season, will be moving ships in the harbor.

They begin the winter with no large holes to fill or stars to replace. But the Nationals will undergo negotiations and make crucial decisions that could set the franchise’s on-field course deep into the future. Read full article here.

At World Series, some question, ‘Where are Nationals?’ And some answers are apparent

(Thomas Boswell, Washington Post)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Early in a tied World Series, before elimination games or talk of championships arrives, the buzz around the sport often is about the team or two that isn’t here and why it’s not. This year, those teams include the Angels and Dodgers because their fine records and Los Angeles star power would have jacked up television ratings and interest beyond devoted baseball fans. But no team is mentioned more than theWashington Nationals. And that confusion, almost consternation, starts at the top of the game.

It’s not every day that the commissioner of baseball and the next commissioner of baseball say the same thing in separate conversations: Why aren’t we flying to Washington for Game 3? Read full article here.