Last year Oakland and Minnesota both spent over $60 million on player contracts, and routinely spend that much. That amount is still well below the league average, but both those clubs are exceptions to the general rule. Billy Beane (Oakland) is often regarded as the best GM in baseball, and Minnesota has the good fortune of having the league MVP playing for just a fraction of market value because he's still too young for free agency. Kansas City and Tampa Bay are at the opposite ends of the spectrum, they have low payrolls and are poorly managed. The best examples I can think of are Cincinnati and Milwaukee. They have below average payrolls and at least decent management. Neither has made the playoffs in a long time, though the Reds were close last year and the Brewers are leading their division by a solid margin this year. So every once in a while a blind squirel will find a nut; even the hapless Royals finished above .500 in 2003, but generally the small market teams in baseball are toast by May 1st.