Buffa's Buffet: 5 things on my mind

More Contreras thoughts, "The Bear" adoration, random adulting notes, and more below.

Acquisitions and trades take time to fully marinate. Sportswriters will see a new deal, fire out their instant takes, and then those words will shift and move inside the head over the next couple of days.

Hours after the St. Louis Cardinals signed free agent catcher Willson Contreras to a five-year deal, I liked the deal without loving it. Signing a near-31-year-old player to a half-decade’s worth of seasons is a gamble that doesn’t carry a high success rate. However, the Cardinals acted out of necessity and timing in acquiring Contreras.

The market didn’t slow down once it got going, with Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, Aaron Judge, and Justin Verlander signing new contracts. Once the shortstop market narrowed for St. Louis, their focus (which was already there most likely) had to shift to the catcher position. A few more days of waiting could have meant another NL team getting a solid-hitting catcher.