Cheapest baseball teams in MLB

Eric Bedard is the Houston Astros player making $1.2m. Thearon W Henderson / Getty Images / AFP

The money Major League Baseball teams spend on their players is often not an accurate predictor of success. Paul Oberjuerge looks at the five MLB teams spending the least on players and finds divergent results.

Houston, US$21.6 million (Dh79.3m)

The Astros are getting what they paid for – a bad team. They are 44-86, the worst mark in baseball by a comfortable margin. Eric Bedard, their priciest player, makes $1.2m, but their owner is set to make a $100m profit.

Miami, $44.7m

The Marlins splashed $112.1m last year but finished only 63-93. They returned to their penny-pinching ways this season (slugger Giancarlo Stanton makes only $537,000), and they are 49-80. Not much worse, at half the price.

Tampa Bay, $59.1m Low payrolls do not doom a club, if they are well-managed and fiscally prudent, and that is the Rays, who tie up young stars, such as the pitcher Alex Cobb ($500,000), at bargain prices. They are an impressive 74-55.

Oakland, $64.4m The original "Moneyball" team, always looking for bargains, such as the infielder Josh Donaldson, who has 18 home runs and 75 runs batted in, while making only $493,000. The Athletics are having another nice season, at 73-57.

Pittsburgh, $66.3m The Pirates are still cheap, just as they were during 20 consecutive losing seasons, but their scant spending has been more clever. Pedro Alvarez, who has 31 homers, is costing them only $700,000, and they are 76-54.