Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals have agreed to a noon ET Wednesday deadline for contract extension talks, general manager John Mozeliak said.

Mozeliak said he has been dealing with Pujols' agent, Dan Lozano, and has not spoken personally with the slugger.

Pujols received and rejected a contract proposal from St. Louis two weeks ago and there has been no progress in the talks since then, a source told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.

Pujols, who is in the last year of his contract with the Cardinals, has said that if a deal is not reached by the time he reports for spring training on Wednesday, he will not negotiate again this season, explaining he wants no distractions during the season.

The two sides agreed to the 24-hour extension to reach a new contract out of respect for Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial, who will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in Washington on Tuesday.

Mozeliak said Monday the club did not want to distract from Musial's special day. Cardinals team chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and Mozeliak will accompany the 90-year-old Musial to Washington.

The 31-year-old Pujols is seeking a contract, perhaps as long as a decade in length, that would make him one of the highest-paid players in the major leagues and allow him to retire as a Cardinal.

Even if a deal can't be reached by Wednesday, the Cardinals were hopeful of keeping the All-Star first baseman. Numerous times the past few seasons and again at last month's Winter Warm-Up fan festival in St. Louis, Pujols has expressed his desire to stay with the Cardinals.