Rays News and Notes: Full Squad Workouts: Day 1

Even though all of the regulars have been in camp since Friday, today marks the first official day of full squad workouts. Highly touted prospect Hak-Ju Lee reported to camp yesterday, along with Brad Coon, another non-roster invitee. While Lee doesn’t have any chance of making the big club, it will still be interesting to see how he performs against Major League pitching, since he has never been exposed to pitching of that level before. Rays News and Notes

• Mike Bauman of MLB.com takes a look at the Rays high expectations for 2012. He says the Rays making the playoffs is “probable” and I think most would probably agree.
• Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times takes a look at the people behind the Matt Moore Rays fans have came to know over the last couple seasons.
• The New York Times takes a look at Rays catcher Jose Molina. Molina is looking to be exactly what the Rays need, a hard-working, veteran catcher to handle the young pitching staff. If he can put up decent numbers at the plate, the Rays will have found themselves a winner.
• In his Sunday notes piece, Topkin writes that the Rays have no hard feelings for Manny Ramirez. Ramirez retired and left the Rays after learning of his 100 game suspension for use of a banned substance. He has since signed a minor league deal with the A’s and will be their DH after his reduced 50 game suspension.
• Finally, Topkin takes a look at some of the Rays appearances in movies. While Carlos Pena wasn’t actually in Moneyball, he was portrayed in a scene in the movie, getting traded by A’s GM Billy Beane.