ORLANDO – Good morning from The Signia Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek on the property of Walt Disney World, site of this year’s Baseball Winter Meetings. Yeah, I won’t be using that full title again the rest of the week. You’ll just have to trust me when I refer to the event’s venue, a new one in the traditional rotation that for a long time included the nearby Swan and Dolphin Resort but has apparently grown too large for that place.

The meetings officially commence this morning, but pretty much everyone of consequence arrived over the course of Sunday afternoon and evening, getting themselves situated for the three-day event that concludes Wednesday afternoon with the Rule 5 Draft.

The venue is new, and most of the people representing the Nationals here are new as well. This is Paul Toboni’s first Winter Meetings as president of baseball operations, and he’s got several new lieutenants with him who we will be meeting in the coming days, including assistant general manager for player development Devin Pearson and assistant GM for player acquisitions Justin Horowitz. Both previously worked alongside Toboni with the Red Sox, with Horowitz making a stop with the Pirates in between.

Mike DeBartolo, who admirably served as interim GM from July through September before becoming Toboni’s senior vice president and assistant GM for baseball operations, also should be here.

That group already was busy before ever leaving D.C., completing a surprising trade Saturday that sent closer Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners for catcher Harry Ford and pitching prospect Isaac Lyon. We are expected to speak to Ford today and get his first thoughts on the trade and the opportunity he’ll now get to become the Nationals’ catcher of the present and future.

Toboni is scheduled to hold his first session with reporters later this afternoon, shedding light not only on his first trade but the possibility of more to come, whether this week or in future weeks.

The recent MacKenzie Gore chatter is real. His name came up quite a bit in the hotel lobby Sunday, and sources familiar with discussions said Toboni has already spoken with a number of interested clubs, with more perhaps to come. That doesn’t guarantee a trade, and Toboni’s asking price is justifiably high. But he appears more than willing to part with the 26-year-old staff ace (who can become a free agent after the 2027 season) if someone makes him a compelling offer.

There are countless more transactions to be made between now and the start of spring training, but the Ferrer trade and potential for another one involving Gore do suggest Toboni is focused far more on the Nationals’ long-term chances of success than short-term possibilities. That may not sit well with fans who have long been ready for this rebuild to be over, but it may simply be a reflection of what Toboni saw when he looked at the state of the organization upon taking over.

* As you may have heard by now, the Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Era Committee met here Sunday, considered a ballot of eight Cooperstown candidates whose major contributions came after 1980 and who previously came up short on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot and wound up electing one player: Jeff Kent.

That caught plenty by surprise, not so much because Kent didn’t have a valid case (most homers by a second baseman in major league history) but because he dwarfed the rest of a star-studded field that didn’t come anywhere close to election.

The committee panel consisted of 16 voters: Hall of Famers Fergie Jenkins, Jim Kaat, Juan Marichal, Tony Pérez, Ozzie Smith, Alan Trammell and Robin Yount; MLB executives Mark Attanasio, Doug Melvin, Arte Moreno, Kim Ng, Tony Reagins and Terry Ryan; and veteran media members/historians Steve Hirdt, Tyler Kepner and Jayson Stark. Twelve votes were required for election. Kent received 14, clearing the threshold with room to spare. Next on the list was Carlos Delgado (nine votes), followed by Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy (six each) and then four players who each received fewer than five votes (Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, Fernando Valenzuela).

The feeling going into the vote was that Mattingly and Murphy had the best shot, but neither came all that close. And yet again Bonds and Clemens came up short, this time by a significant margin. Each surpassed the 65 percent mark on the BBWAA ballot in 2022. Neither even got 30 percent support by this veterans committee, which should reiterate just how opposed actual Hall of Famers have always been to inducting suspected steroids users.