<table> </table> LAS VEGAS | It&#8217;s no small thing that Royals general manager Dayton Moore and his lieutenants arrive at this gambling mecca with no real itch to roll the dice after already making two major offseason moves.</p><p>The temptation for clubs to do something &#8212; at times, anything &#8212; is potent at baseball&#8217;s annual winter meetings. And this year&#8217;s setting, the elegant Bellagio hotel and casino, should only spur the fever.</p><p>The Royals might not be immune, but neither are they anxious after acquiring first baseman Mike Jacobs from Florida and outfielder Coco Crisp from Boston for relievers Leo Nu&#241;ez and Ramon Ramirez.</p><p>&#8220;Our No. 1 goal this winter,&#8221; Moore said, &#8220;is we wanted to get a legit center fielder who could hit at the top of our order. That was our No. 1 priority. We then wanted to get a power hitter to hit in the middle of our order.&#8221;</p><p>Check and check.</p><p>That marks a change from the last two years, when Moore created a splash with free-agent cash.</p><p>The Royals won bidding wars at the 2006 meetings in Orlando, Fla., for pitchers Gil Meche and Octavio Dotel. A year ago in Nashville, Tenn., they signed outfielder Jos&#233; Guillen and made strong pushes for outfielder Andruw Jones and pitcher Hiroki Kuroda.</p><p>This year, they pursued trades for Jacobs and Crisp, believing them to be better fits &#8212; and more affordable &#8212; than alternatives in the free-agent market.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve added two productive everyday position players for about $9 million,&#8221; Moore said. &#8220;We would not have been able to do that in the free-agent market.&#8221;</p><p>That doesn&#8217;t mean the Royals intend to float through these meetings, which begin Monday and run through Thursday at the sprawling Bellagio, which sits framed by an eight-acre artificial lake on the city&#8217;s famed strip.</p><p>&#8220;Our biggest hole now,&#8221; Moore said, &#8220;is bullpen help from the right side.&#8221;</p><p>The Royals also remain interested in acquiring a proven middle infielder to replace departing free-agent Mark Grudzielanek as a partner for shortstop Mike Aviles. It&#8217;s not a must, but they&#8217;ll browse the market and look into trade possibilities.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m satisfied right now,&#8221; Moore said, &#8220;if we began today in spring training with our current group of middle infielders. Aviles is our shortstop with Tony Pe&#241;a as a guy who will continue to compete there.</p><p>&#8220;(Alberto) Callaspo proved that he can be a productive everyday guy, but we haven&#8217;t seen him for 162 (games). So we need to cover ourselves there. (Esteban) German is somebody who can do just fine.&#8221;</p><p>Another factor: The Royals&#8217; payroll is already pressing past a franchise-record $70 million, which represents an increase of more than 20 percent over last season. Owner David Glass sounds unwilling to go much higher.</p><p>&#8220;We want to leave ourselves some flexibility,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I think we now need to be a little conservative.&#8221;</p><p>Trades are possible, certainly.</p><p>Acquiring Crisp leaves no space in the outfield for Mark Teahen, who figures to make more than $3 million next season through arbitration. That&#8217;s way too much for the Royals to pay a backup.</p><p>Moore insists the Royals are not anxious to deal Teahen and has already spiked trade rumors. Even so, Teahen seems unlikely to supplant Alex Gordon at third base. That leaves first base/designated hitter, which is already overloaded with Jacobs, Billy Butler, Ross Gload, Ryan Shealy and Kila Ka&#8217;aihue.