Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said acquiring top shortstop prospect Addison Russell from the A's on Friday, for pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel, was a "no-brainer" and something the team had to do, despite its need for young pitching.

"We would have been very open to getting quality pitching back in this deal but there was no pitcher available who's even close to the caliber of player we feel Addison Russell is," Epstein explained on Saturday in a conference call with reporters.