Washington Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman hopes to have the framework of a new contract in place before Washington's first official full-squad workout of spring training. He also repeated what he's said since being drafted by Washington in 2005: He wants to stay with the Nationals for the long term. Zimmerman said Friday the point of signing a new deal "is to be here, not to sign a deal that's team-friendly to have it with another team. That's the whole point of a deal." He previously had set Saturday as a deadline for negotiations; that's when Washington starts formal workouts. Zimmerman said he doesn't want talk about contract discussions to be a distraction in the clubhouse during spring training or the season. Zimmerman says if "the big things" are settled by Saturday, then other details can be ironed out later. "The big things have to be taken care of: the years, the money, that kind of stuff. The big parts of the contract," Zimmerman said. "There's obviously little things in the language that take a little bit longer to take care of. ... But we have to have the pressing issues, which are a few things, done by Saturday." Read more: http://espn.go.com/mlb/spring2012/s...rman-washington-nationals-wants-deal-saturday
