Tradeoff: $ spent on scouting & player development vs. salaries and other expenses

[Stingray]

I have no idea how much scouting directors or scouts make or how much minor league managers or coaches make. My guess is they don’t consume a large chunk of a ML clubs’ expenditures. These are the people who find and then develop the talent that ML baseball clubs pay up Millions to sign. These players, if they become stars, are then paid 10’s of millions to sign long term (often more than once) with a club.

I wonder if the surest way to success isn’t to allocate a much larger share of a ML club’s operating cost into the areas of scouting and player development than is currently the case. What if, for example, the Reds had spent the millions, used to sign Cormier and Stanton, to instead upgrade scouting and minor league personnel responsible for player development? How much impact would that have on this years and future drafts, on the development of players drafted, or on future trades.

I don’t know the answer, but, has anyone here seen any data related to these tradeoffs? Such data could be invaluable to a ML GM.