The St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday announced that they have reached a two year extension with senior vice president and general manager John Mozeliak that retains him through 2018.

Mozeliak joined the Cardinals following the 1995 season as an assistant in scouting operations. He became assistant general manager in 2003 and the Cardinals' 12th general manager in their history in 2007.  Under his look the Cardinals have been in the playoffs four times, winning two National League pennants and in 2011, the World Series.  The Cardinals were also named Baseball America's "Organization of the Year" in 2011 and again in 2013.

"I think what we've been able to accomplish here is something we all take a lot of pride in, but we also know every year is a new year and every year has new challenges," said Mozeliak. "I think that's the exciting thing about working with this group. It's innovative, it's creative and it's not looking back. It's about looking forward."

Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt said he thought the time was right to extend Mozeliak.

"Given where we are and how the organization's doing, it was appropriate for us to do it," DeWitt said. "It was pretty hectic during spring training and the first part of the season, so we felt it was appropriate to do it now.

"We really didn't have a lot of discussions. I met with him when we opened the season in Cincinnati. I talked to him about it at that time and we did it pretty quickly."

At the completion of the extension in 2018, Mozeliak will be one of the longest serving general managers in the Cardinals' 100 year history.  Only Vaughn Devine (18 years) and Walt Jocketty (14 years) will have held the position longer. 

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