Front Office Explainer
A front office is far bigger than the few names at the top. Scouts, analysts, coaches and trainers all feed one question: how does this club win, now and later? Here's how it fits together.
The org chart
- Amateur scoutingHigh school and college players for the draft.
- International scoutingTeenagers, mostly from Latin America, signed as international free agents.
- Pro scoutingPlayers on other clubs, for trades and free agency.
- Research & developmentThe analytics group: data, models and tools for every decision.
- Player developmentThe minor league system: coaches and coordinators who turn prospects into big leaguers.
- Major league staffThe manager, coaches, and the video and advance scouting crew.
- Sports science & medicalTrainers, strength coaches and doctors who keep players on the field.
- Baseball administrationContracts, roster rules, arbitration and the payroll math.
Business operations (tickets, broadcasts, sponsors) is a separate side of the club with its own president. Every club draws its chart a little differently: some give one person two titles, some add layers, some leave a job open while they search. Departments have grown fast, and many clubs now employ dozens of analysts, coaches and scouts beyond the few people named on the Front Office page.
What does a GM actually do?
The GM is the club's roster architect, and most of the job is conversation: with other GMs about trades, with agents about contracts, and with their own staff about who to go after.
- Trades. Constant calls and texts with the other 29 clubs. Most never turn into a deal.
- Contracts. Offers to free agents, extensions for the club's own players, and arbitration cases.
- The 40-man roster. Who gets added, sent to the minors, designated for assignment or released. That's dozens of moves a season.
- Running the department. Scouting, analytics and player development all feed the GM's decisions.
Where there's a president of baseball operations above the GM, the GM usually handles more of the daily dealmaking while the president owns the long-term plan and the final call.
President vs. GM: why have both?
A generation ago the GM was almost always the top baseball job. Today most clubs put a president of baseball operations above the GM.
- The job got bigger. Baseball operations departments have grown fast, and one person can't easily set strategy, run all of it and work the phones every day.
- A clear split. The president handles the big picture: the plan, budget talks with ownership, and hiring. The GM carries it out through trades, contracts and roster moves.
- A succession path. Promoting a GM to president and hiring a new GM keeps a successful leader in charge while bringing in fresh energy.
The titles vary. Some clubs give one person both jobs, and some call the top job "chief baseball officer." A club can also run for a while with a president and no GM while it searches, the way the Orioles did before hiring Jared Banner in 2026.
Scouting vs. analytics: rivals or partners?
Scouts watch players in person and judge what's hard to measure: how a swing works, whether a pitcher can repeat his delivery, how a player handles failure. Analysts work from data such as pitch tracking, batted balls and biomechanics, and build models that project how a player will perform.
The old Moneyball story cast them as rivals. Today nearly every club blends the two: scouts carry radar guns, video and data, analysts lean on scouting reports for what the numbers miss, and big decisions weigh both.
They still shine in different places. Data is strongest on players with long track records. Scouting matters most for teenagers and amateurs who have little data at all, which is why the draft and international signings still depend so heavily on scouts.
Where player development fits
Most of a club's future big leaguers come through its farm system: draft picks, international signings and prospects acquired in trades. Player development is the department that turns them into major leaguers.
- The minor leagues. Each club runs a ladder of affiliates, from rookie-level complex teams up to Triple-A, each with its own manager and coaches.
- Labs and coordinators. High-speed cameras, pitch design and swing changes. Pitching and hitting coordinators carry one approach through every level.
- Health and strength. Sports science staff manage workloads and recovery, especially for young pitchers.
This is where scouting and analytics pay off, or don't: what they see in a player only matters if development can build on it. Strong development is one of the main ways lower-payroll clubs keep up. A club that turns mid-round picks into big leaguers has to buy less in free agency.
See this club's recent top picks under Draft History.
What the manager does now
The manager runs the team on the field: lineups, pitching changes, defensive positioning and the clubhouse. Much of that is now planned with the front office before the game, with matchups and bullpen plans built from the analytics staff's work.
So the modern manager is above all a communicator. They translate the front office's plans for players, hold a 26-man clubhouse together across 162 games, and face the media every day.
The president or GM usually hires the manager, and the manager is usually the first to go when a season goes wrong.
Who sets the payroll?
The owner decides how much the club can spend. The front office decides how to spend it.
- Where the money comes from. Tickets, local TV and streaming, sponsors, and revenue shared across the league. Big-market clubs earn and spend far more.
- The budget. Ownership sets it, usually each offseason. Baseball operations makes the case for more when the club is close to contending.
- No salary cap. MLB doesn't have one, which is why payrolls vary so widely.
- The luxury tax. The competitive balance tax charges clubs on payroll above a set threshold, at higher rates for going further over and for going over repeatedly. Many clubs treat that line as a soft cap.
This club's salaries and contracts are linked under Payroll & Contracts.
A front office's year
- After the World Series Free agency opens. Clubs decide on contract options and trim their 40-man rosters.
- November The GM Meetings, then the deadline to add prospects to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft.
- December The Winter Meetings and the Rule 5 Draft, the busiest stretch for trades and signings.
- January The international signing period opens, and clubs and players swap salary figures for arbitration.
- February–March Spring training and the final calls on who makes the team.
- April–June Evaluating: who's real, who's hurt, what's missing.
- July The amateur draft during All-Star week, then the trade deadline at the end of the month, when clubs decide whether to buy or sell.
- September–October Rosters expand to 28 for September, then the playoffs, and the planning for next year starts again.
Follow this club's moves under Transactions.
The rules they work within
- 40-man roster
- The players under major league contract. Only they can play in the majors, and 26 are active at a time.
- Options
- A player on the 40-man can be sent to the minors ("optioned") during three different seasons. After that he has to pass through waivers first.
- Designated for assignment
- Taking a player off the 40-man. Within a week the club trades him, releases him or puts him on waivers, where any club can claim him; if nobody does, he can be sent outright to the minors.
- Rule 5 Draft
- Each December, clubs can take other clubs' minor leaguers who've been in pro ball four or five years without being added to a 40-man roster. A pick has to stay in the majors all season or be offered back.
- Injured list
- A hurt player goes on the 10-day injured list (15 days for pitchers) and the club can call up a replacement. The 60-day list also takes him off the 40-man roster, freeing a spot.
- Service time
- Days on the active roster or the major league injured list. 172 days make a year.
- Arbitration
- Players with three to six years of service (plus some "Super Two" players just under three) can have a panel set their salary if they and the club don't agree.
- Free agency
- After six years of service a player can sign with any club.
See this club's roster under 40-Man Roster.