You're mis-reading what the statement is saying.
Out of all the last place teams in the history of MLB, which one had the highest payroll? Not the highest payroll in baseball that year, but the highest of all these last place teams.
Here's a fun example on what's being talked about.
In the 2007 regular season the Yankees swept Cleveland 6-0, outscoring them 49-17.
In the 2007 ALDS Cleveland beat the Yankees 3-1.
Houck seemed to take the brunt of it, probably because Duran had just been called up recently.
Anyway, what Kimmi was talking about was "deserved", not "expected".