John Mozeliak

John Mozeliak (born January 18, 1969) is an American baseball executive who is the president of baseball operations of the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB).

In 1993, Jay Darnell, the Colorado Rockies' video coordinator, introduced Mozeliak to Bryn Smith, pitcher for the Rockies.

Smith was looking for a location to go fly fishing.

A few days after Mozeliak took Smith fly fishing, the Rockies invited Mozeliak to serve as a batting practice pitcher, since they needed someone who could throw left handed.

Dante Bichette took a liking to Mozeliak, and they created a clubhouse job for Mozeliak.

He began to work with Bob Gebhard, the Rockies' general manager (GM), and Walt Jocketty, the assistant GM.

Never a professional baseball player, Mozeliak came to the Cardinals as Walt Jocketty's assistant in 1995 and became the organization's twelfth General Manager after the 2007 season.

The winner of three Executive of the Year awards, Mozeliak has overseen the Cardinals make playoff appearances in six years, win one World Series title, and two National League pennants.

They have had a winning record in all but one season since he was appointed general manager.

When the St. Louis Cardinals hired Jocketty as their GM in 1995, Mozeliak went to St. Louis as well.

He served as an assistant within the scouting department and later spent five seasons as Jocketty's assistant GM.

He became the assisting scouting director in 1998.

The next season, Mozeliak was promoted to scouting director and oversaw the drafting of talent such as Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina.

He garnered much attention as a major up-and-coming GM in the industry and interviewed with the Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros.

After Édgar Rentería manned shortstop for the Cardinals from 1999 to 2004, he left for the Boston Red Sox via free agency.

The Cardinals found difficulty filling the position.

On October 3, 2007, chairman of the board of directors Bill DeWitt announced that the Cardinals "had cordially and respectfully" parted ways with Jocketty based on philosophical differences of player development.

DeWitt named Mozeliak the interim GM.

Dating back to the year before, tension arose after Jeff Luhnow, later the Astros' GM, was promoted to vice president of amateur scouting and player development.

After more than a decade as GM, Luhnow's promotion tacitly signaled he had usurped that sphere of Jocketty's authority.

While other candidates interviewed for the GM position, it appeared Cleveland Indians assistant GM Chris Antonetti was the early favorite.

However, Indians ownership improved Antonetti's offer to take over the full GM position and enticed him to stay.

On the evening of October 30, 2007, Mozeliak accepted the Cardinals' offer and the team formally introduced him as the new GM the next day.

One of Mozeliak's first major moves was to trade iconic center fielder Jim Edmonds to the San Diego Padres for third baseman David Freese on December 15, 2007.

In 2009, Mozeliak acquired slugger Matt Holliday in a trade with the Oakland Athletics and signed him to the richest contract in team history the following January, valued at $116 million.

Holliday produced an .874 OPS and an OPS+ of 138 as a Cardinal, compared to 132 for his career.

On September 26, the Cardinals clinched their first division title during Mozeliak's tenure as GM against the Colorado Rockies.

However, they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS.

When Holliday was a free agent the following offseason, DeWitt became frustrated with agent Scott Boras and walked away from negotiations.

However, Mozeliak, who had developed a strong working relationship with DeWitt, persuaded him to sign Holliday for seven years at $17 million per year.

In 2009, a trade involving Mark Worrell and Luke Gregerson brought Khalil Greene from the Padres.

With poor performance and a $6.5 million salary, he took time off in May and June.

It was revealed that he may have been attempting to inflict injury upon himself, indicative of social anxiety disorder.

The Cardinals' minor league farm system has received numerous accolades following the volume of prospects that have succeeded at the major league level, including Baseball America bestowing the franchise with the Organization of the Year Award in 2011 and 2013.

Mozeliak is signed through the 2025 season.

Mozeliak attended Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado.

He played for the school's baseball team as a pitcher and first baseman.

He also played American Legion baseball.

Mozeliak attended the University of Arizona, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, before ultimately graduating from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Although stating regret at first over trading the popular but often-injured Edmonds, Freese later proved to be integral in the Cardinals' 2011 season.