<table> </table> DANA POINT, Calif. | Dayton Moore departed the annual general managers&#8217; meetings Wednesday, warning that last week&#8217;s trade to acquire first baseman Mike Jacobs from Florida might be the Royals&#8217; only major off-season move.</p><p>&#8220;As much as we&#8217;ve tried to improve our offense over the last couple of years, I think we&#8217;ve done the best we can do at this point in time,&#8221; Moore said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know what else we&#8217;re going to be able to do this winter.&#8221;</p><p>Payroll is the primary problem.</p><p>The Royals&#8217; projected $60 million budget already has $41.4 million committed to nine players. Club officials now expect Jacobs to cost $3 million or more after briefings this week from MLB officials on the anticipated state of the market.</p><p>Those same projections suggest it will cost at least $12 million to retain Zack Greinke, Mark Teahen, John Buck and John Bale. All four are eligible for arbitration, and all but Greinke already make at least $2.2 million.</p><p>The Royals have 10 other players poised for arbitration, including Brian Bannister and Kyle Davies. Both are first-time eligibles in line for hefty increases after making close to the big-league minimum in 2008.</p><p>The tight budget appears to rule out any major foray into the free-agent market.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think so,&#8221; Moore admitted. &#8220;We&#8217;d have to do something (to make a major signing).&#8221;</p><p>Trades remain a possibility, of course, and rumors continue to link the Royals to possible deals for outfielder Jeff Francouer of Atlanta and shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt of Seattle.</p><p>Those two deals would address the Royals&#8217; primary needs, but indications are that no serious discussions have taken place. The major knock on Francouer and Betancourt is their poor on-base percentage.</p><p>The same criticism has been aimed at Jacobs, but Moore rejected any suggestion that the trade for him represented a reversal from his tenet that the Royals become more committed to improving on-base percentage after finishing 26th among the 30 teams.</p><p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t get confused when we bring a player in, and he doesn&#8217;t fit the mold,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We can only take advantage of those players who are available.</p><p>&#8220;Should we do nothing because (Jacobs&#8217;) on-base percentage is not what we want? Should we do nothing even though our coaches think they can help this guy improve and when we know this guy is a hard worker?&#8221;</p><p>Moore thinks that Jacobs&#8217; power outweighs other negatives. The Royals&#8217; 120 homers last season topped only Minnesota among American League teams. Jacobs hit 32 for Florida &#8212; more than any Royals player since Jermaine Dye hit 33 in 2000.</p><p>&#8220;Mike Jacobs has the kind of raw power you can&#8217;t develop, and that we can&#8217;t afford in the free-agent market,&#8221; Moore said. &#8220;So when you get a chance to acquire someone like that, you do it. I think it makes our team better.&#8221;</p><p>What comes next? Even Moore isn&#8217;t sure.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the same thing all of the time, but it&#8217;s the truth: We&#8217;ll continue to look for ways to improve our baseball team,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to be open-minded with different scenarios.</p><p>&#8220;I expect us to improve our team, potentially, through trades vs. the free-agent market, but we&#8217;ll look for opportunities with free agents. We need to continue to improve.&#8221;</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Front-office possibility?</span></strong></p><p>Speculation points to the Royals as a possible landing place for former Phillies assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle, who left the club this week when passed over for promotion after general manager Pat Gillick retired.