He is… well, a below average defender. I’ve said it before and I’ll stick with my opinion on him. Nothing personal Raul… you’re a great guy, a leader and class act… but your defense is a different story.

Now… what really stands out in this article to me is Raul’s take on Armstrong:

“No one cares more about that team than he does,” Ibanez said of Armstrong. “The team and the city. He was distraught with what went on last year. I know because I had some one-on-one conversations with him. He cares so deeply about the city and the fans. He wants them to have a winner. He wants nothing more than for the franchise to win a championship. Believe me, he cares more than people realize,”

Now I’m not questioning Raul’s word… ’cause I don’t believe he’d lie about it… but why, in all the years Armstrong has been running this team has he never come out and actually said “Our goal is to win a championship”? All I’ve ever heard from him or Lincoln is that they want to build a “competitive team”.

I do hope Raul is right… and that in his conversations with Armstrong he isn’t taking what Armstrong said out of context and that a championship is really his ultimate goal.