CLEVELAND — Derek Lowe’s durability – and price tag – were too much for the Cleveland Indians to resist.

The club acquired the 15-year veteran pitcher from the Atlanta Braves on Monday for a minor leaguer.

The Indians got the 38-year-old Lowe, who has 166 career wins, in exchange for left-hander Chris Jones. As part of the deal, the Indians will only have to pay Lowe $5 million of the $15 million he’s scheduled to make in 2012. Lowe signed a four-year $60 million deal as a free agent with Atlanta before the 2009 season.

Atlanta had a surplus of young arms and were looking to move Lowe.

Lowe was 0-5 in September for the Braves, and struggled with is mechanics for much of the season. After Atlanta faded down the stretch and missed the postseason, GM Frank Wren said, “It’s hard to project him as one of our starters at this point.”

Indians general manager Chris Antonetti said Lowe immediately assumes a spot in the Indians’ starting staff, where he’ll join Ubaldo Jimenez, Justin Masterson, Josh Tomlin and Fausto Carmona. The Indians picked up Carmona’s $7 million option for 2012.

“He’s a quality pitcher with durability, pitching 180 innings or more every year since 2002,” Antonetti said. “… His experience will complement a very young rotation. One of our goals was to improve our starting pitching.

“This goes a long way towards that.”

Jones, 23, went 7-1 with a 3.36 ERA in 43 appearances for Class A Kinston.