Randomization: 07/06/06

Ann Coulter update. It's been about a month since the skinny blonde attention addict appeared on the Today show on NBC and proceeded to take cheap shots at the widows of some 9/11 victims. You can read the initial thoughts here.

Now comes word that Coulter is being investigated for possible plagiarism. In fact, John Barrie, the man who created a plagiarism-finder called iThenticate, was on MSNBC last night, and he told "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann that Coulter was found to have committed "advanced plagiarism" - to the point where Coulter could have flunked an English class as a result.

(Barrie was asked by the New York Post to look into Coulter's latest book, along with her last year's worth of syndicated newspaper columns. Barrie told Olbermann that his staff didn't even finish checking all the material because they had found so much plagiarism.)

I'll just sit back and laugh. I enjoy watching evil, hateful people get what's coming to them.

(Note to John Barrie: Please do not investigate this blog.)

Chad Moeller gone!! Thank you, Doug Melvin. The Brewers designated their light-hitting, poor-fielding backup catcher for assignment on Wednesday, meaning that the Brewers are short one guy who doesn't deserve to be in the major leagues.

Now, they only have one of those (see: "Barnwell, Chris").

Moeller's .184 batting average and .507 OPS (!) are heading to AAA Nashville, and Mike Rivera, a much better hitting prospect, is on his way to Milwaukee.

With a Brewer win pulling the Crew within 3.5 games of first place in the NL Central and within two games of the NL Wild Card, they can't afford to be carrying too much dead weight around. Moeller was killing them basically every time he was in the lineup. The Brewers went just 8-21 in games Moeller appeared in this year, and manager Ned Yost drew more than a little criticism from the faithful for refusing to pinch-hit for Moeller late in close games, allowing Moeller to effectively kill rally after rally.

With Moeller no longer an option, one can expect the offense to be a bit more consistent when Damian Miller can't play or is being held out for rest.

Well, except when Barnwell starts.

The Wild appear to get it now. After an offseason of inaction after the lockout, the previously cheap Minnesota Wild have gone on a spending spree of sorts this season. So far, the Wild have signed unrestricted free agents Mark Parrish, Kim Johnsson, and Keith Carney, traded for Kings star Pavol Demitra, and they added to the expense sheet Wednesday by signing star wing Marian Gaborik to a new three-year deal.

Minnesota has bolstered their offense with Demitra and Parrish, and they've added to their defensive group as well. Johnsson is a smooth skater, and Carney is known as a defensive defenseman.

The Wild got a ton of criticism for not spending last year, but they had their reasons. The rules changes were very well-received around the league, but no one really thought that the league would follow through for an entire season like they did. GM Doug Risebrough and the rest of the Wild brass thought that the clutch-and-grab style would win over, and they thought that the Wild's young talent would shine through in the slowdown game. They were wrong. The Wild were off the mark offensively all season, and they lost a ton of close games because they simply didn't have enough offensive firepower outside of Gaborik and Brian Rolston.

By my count, the Wild were 14-28, including eight overtime/shootout losses, in one-goal games a year ago. That doesn't take into account games that became two-goal wins or losses with last-minute empty-net tallies. And the goaltending was very good for Minnesota last year, as the Wild ranked fifth in the NHL in goals against average.

With that in mind, the Wild have upgraded the offense, which is absolutely the right move. And it should pay off with a playoff run in 2006-2007. After a season of transition and uncertainty, the future is looking good once again for the Wild.