A tidbit from Mike Kiley in the Sun-Times. I was hoping to find some good reason why the Cubs made the downright weird Stephen Randolph trade.

Randolph's major-league record in 95 games is 10-6 with a 4.89 ERA. Opponents have hit only 18 home runs off him, and only five of them were by left-handed batters.

Well, "only" 18 home runs would be a nice achievement in, say, 230 innings, but Randolph's only pitched 141 innings in the majors. No, this isn't the world's worst home run rate, especially considering that Randolph called Arizona's homer-friendly park home, but it's not worth writing home about either.

Has anyone found a reason for this trade yet? Why, again, is Randolph worth a spot on the 40-man roster?