Overview
The front office is the collective term for a club's management and player personnel division, comprising the general manager (GM), scouting department, player development staff, and related functions. While the on-field manager and coaches handle game-day decisions, the front office oversees long-term team construction: draft strategy, free-agent and trade acquisitions, international signings, and salary negotiations. The front office's role in NPB was historically more limited than in MLB. Japanese baseball tradition grants managers broad authority over player usage and tactics, with front offices often confined to administrative functions. However, from the 2000s onward, the growing importance of analytics elevated front-office-driven team building. The DeNA BayStars and Nippon-Ham Fighters are recognized as clubs that significantly improved competitiveness through front-office-led reforms. The relationship between front office and field staff is a perennial theme in club management. The ideal is a virtuous cycle where the front office assembles talent that the coaching staff maximizes, with field feedback informing future roster decisions - though friction between the two sides is not uncommon.