JUPITER, Fla. — The architect behind 15 consecutive winning seasons will continue to lead the Cardinals for several more years, through the construction of a modern spring training complex, the upkeep of the big-league rotation, and the high-rise spending of National League rivals.
John Mozeliak and the Cardinals have reached agreement on a two-year extension for him to remain president of baseball operations through at least the 2025 season, a source told the Post-Dispatch.
Mozeliak is entering the final year of his previous extension with the team, and it was set to expire at the conclusion of the 2023 season. The new contract will add an additional two years after this season. Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said during the team’s Winter Warm-up that he hoped to come to an agreement this spring with Mozeliak, who has led the Cardinals baseball operations since becoming senior vice president and general manager on Halloween 2007. Mozeliak, 54, served as interim general manager the month before that promotion and by the end of the extension will be one of the longest-serving executives in the club's 132 seasons in the National League.
In June 2017, the Cardinals named Mozeliak president of baseball operations, a title and position new to the organization but growing in use through the industry for the person guiding baseball decisions. By the end of the forthcoming extension he will have led the baseball side of the organization for 18 seasons. He'll have 30 seasons with the club.
The Cardinals have not had a losing season during Mozeliak’s leadership.
The new contract is expected to be announced as early as Tuesday.
“He’s top echelon of baseball people,” DeWitt said in January. “First of all, Mo has done a great job for us. I’m a big fan of his abilities as a president of baseball operations. I know the questions came up – how come you haven’t extended him? We’ve had conversations. But we really haven’t gotten into a lot of discussion about it. He’s been doing what he’s doing. When we get to Florida we’ll sit down and see what everybody wants to do.”
What Mozeliak sought to do toward the end of this past season was discuss and secure extensions for his leadership group. General manager Michael Girsch and assistant general manager Randy Flores received multi-year extensions in October before their contracts expired. Girsch has been Mozeliak’s vice president since 2017, and Flores, the former lefty reliever and 2006 World Series champion, has helmed the Cardinals draft since June 2016. Two other assistant general managers, Moises Rodriguez and farm director Gary LaRocque, were already under contract for the 2023 season atop Mozeliak’s baseball operations staff.
Mozeliak said, at the time of the extensions, he was “excited to know the future of the organization is in strong hands.”
A native of Boulder, Colo., Mozeliak joined the Cardinals after the 1995 season and began what will be at least three decades with the club as an assistant in the scouting operations. As scouting director, Mozeliak oversaw the drafts that included Albert Pujols in the 13th round in 1999 and Yadier Molina as the team’s fourth-round pick in 2000. In 2001, Mozeliak ascended to director of baseball operations before becoming assistant general manager to Walt Jocketty in 2003.
Mozeliak became the 12th general manager in Cardinals’ history in 2007, a year after the team’s World Series title and a month of its only losing season of the 2000s.
With Mozeliak shaping the roster, the Cardinals have reached the World Series twice, winning in 2011 due to dramatic hits from David Freese, who Mozeliak acquired from San Diego in his first trade as general manager. The Cardinals won the NL pennant again in 2013. The Cardinals receded from the playoffs in the following years and went three years without a berth before returning to the National League Championship Series in 2019, the last year they’ve won a playoff series.
In his tenure, the Cardinals have annually been among the major-league leaders in attendance, and he’s overseen growth and advancement in the Cardinals’ player development infrastructure. Mozeliak played a leading role in the team’s complicated purchase and eventual sale of Class AAA Memphis to keep the Redbirds as a stable affiliate, and he’s recently been shepherding a $108-million “modernization” of the Florida complex from plan to construction. With final approval and the issuance of bonds from Palm Beach County, the project is set to begin this spring and a new, updated, and upgraded facility will open in 2025, the final year of Mozeliak’s new contract.
This past offseason, Mozeliak pledged a hike in payroll to fortify a team that already included two of the top-three finishers for the NL MVP – Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, two All-Stars that Mozeliak acquired via trade and then helped keep as the current core of the Cardinals. The team signed catcher Willson Contreras to a five-year, $87.5-million deal that was the largest ever finalized by the Cardinals for a player from outside the organization. Payroll did grow and could, by the end of this season, surpass $200 million for the first time in club history. Yet, in January, Mozeliak faced questions about the team’s payroll because Contreras was the only major addition in a winter that saw wild spending sprees on free agents and contract extensions by National League rivals such as the Mets, Atlanta, San Diego, and the defending NL champ Philadelphia.
Asked at the same press conference in January about his own contract, Mozeliak said he was “not overly focused” on it or 2024.
“I understand the importance of the St. Louis Cardinals,” Mozeliak said. “The good news is the majority of my staff are under contract and they know what is expected of them day to day. I don’t want to be a distraction first and foremost, and most importantly, I’m just looking forward to the season.”
