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

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The club acquired the 15-year veteran pitcher from the Atlanta Braves on Monday for a minor leaguer, a low-risk move designed to bolster Cleveland’s starting rotation.

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.

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.

Before the deal for Lowe was announced, 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. “The last time he was on the disabled list was 1995. In addition to his durability, there’s some leadership potential. 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. Stability is important. Also, he can be a positive influence on young starting pitchers with similar skills.”

The Indians contended for most of 2011 before injuries and inexperience dropped them from the AL Central race. And while Lowe has some mileage on his right arm, Cleveland believes he has enough left to help next season.

Lowe has pitched in both leagues, as a starter and closer. One of just three pitchers in history with more than 160 wins and 80 saves, Lowe went just 9-17 with a 5.05 ERA in 34 starts last season, his third with Atlanta. His 17 losses led the league.

But with right-hander Carlos Carrasco out for the season following Tommy John surgery, the Indians, who traded top prospects Alex White and Drew Pomeranz to Colorado for Jimenez in July, needed another established starter and made finding one an offseason priority — through trade or free agency.

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

Lowe was 0-5 in September for the Braves, and struggled with his 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.”

However, the Indians have a spot for him and hope he can impact and mentor their young pitchers the way veteran Kevin Millwood did when they signed him in 2005.

“We checked with former teammates and believe he can evolve into that type of (mentoring) role,” Antonetti said. “He’s a guy who loves the game, enjoys talking baseball, likes to help.”

The Indians understand there is the risk that a 38-year-old pitcher won’t be any better when he turns 39. However, Antonetti is confident Lowe can bounce back from a tough season and he’s not concerned about him switching back to the AL after seven seasons in the NL.

“Derek relies a lot upon contact,” he said. “He is reliant on his defense, but we are confident that if he pounds the strike zone, gets groundballs and we pick up the ball behind him, he should have a better year.”

Lowe is 166-146 with a 3.94 ERA in 356 career starts. In addition to Atlanta, Lowe has pitched with Seattle, Boston and the Los Angeles Dodgers since breaking into the majors in 1997. His 334 games started since 2002 is the most in baseball over the 10-season span.

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

Carmona

Sizemore

The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has exercised the 2012 club option on pitcher Fausto Carmona.

Also today the Indians declined the 2012 club option of outfielder Grady Sizemore, who is now eligible for free agency.

Carmona went 3-5 with a 4.49 ERA in his final 15 starts from July 1 through the end of the season and had a combined ERA of 2.93 in July and August.

He has made at least 32 starts and logged more than 188 innings over each of the last two seasons in 2010 and 2011. Overall in 2011 he went 7-15 with a 5.25 ERA in 32 starts.

Carmona is now signed through the 2012 season with club options for 2013 and 2014.

ELYRIA — The deaths of victim advocate Margaret McCoy and her husband, Virgil, earlier this year have been ruled a murder-suicide — a ruling that the Lorain County coroner said was bolstered by a 911 call from Virgil McCoy the night both died.

Margaret McCoy was shot twice in the head on the evening of April 15 before Virgil McCoy called 911 and then turned the gun on himself, Lorain County Coroner Stephen Evans said.

Listen to the 911 call:

There was no suicide note, and the bodies were found about noon the next day by relatives.

Evans said Elyria police later determined that Virgil McCoy had called 911 at 10:14 p.m. April 15 and said in a low voice that he had shot his wife.

The 911 dispatcher apparently did not hear him, and the call was transferred to Elyria police, but McCoy hung up after a few words, so no one realized until later that help was needed, Evans said.

Margaret McCoy, 65, was found on the floor of a rear porch of her home at Pikewood Manor mobile home park near Midway Mall and her glasses were found outside, Evans said.

“There was a belief from Elyria police that there was a struggle because her glasses were found in the yard and she was found in the breezeway,” Evans said.

Virgil “Gene” McCoy, 63, was in a chair inside the home with a .38-caliber revolver nearby. He also had been shot in the head, according to police.

911 Director Robin Jones said the 911 dispatcher was not disciplined because she did not hear McCoy say he shot his wife.

There is background noise in the call center including other calls and the police scanner, Jones said.

“The call was handled per procedure,” Jones said.

In the brief 911 recording at 10:14 p.m. April 15, McCoy is questioned by the 911 operator about whether he needs police, fire or an ambulance. He said he needed police and the 911 operator asked for the location.

McCoy replied, “I want to tell you what’s happening first — I just killed my wife.”

In the event the 911 dispatcher had heard McCoy say he killed his wife, she would have told police exactly what they were dealing with, Jones said.

Before transferring the call to Elyria police, the 911 dispatcher can be heard confirming McCoy’s cell phone number and asking McCoy for his address — 187 Gull Drive.

McCoy hung up quickly after being transferred to Elyria police, Elyria police Lt. Chris Costantino said.

“The call was transferred to our dispatcher,” Costantino said. “Mr. McCoy started to say, he just — then he hung up the phone and did not finish his statement.”

Police were not aware of the contents of the call to 911 — both the address and the statement that McCoy killed his wife, Costantino said. They did not check on the McCoys because police cannot trace the location of a cell phone call, he said.

The front door of the mobile home at 187 Gull Drive was unlocked when police arrived the next day, police said.

There was no note, and family members told authorities they had last spoken with the couple at about 6 p.m. April 15.

The motive for the killing remains a mystery, Elyria police Sgt. Lee Frank said.

“We’ll never know — there’s no note or any indication they were having problems, Frank said.

Margaret McCoy worked at the Genesis House shelter for battered women, where she worked with domestic violence victims in Oberlin Municipal Court.

Staff reporter Kiera Manion-Fischer also contributed to this report. Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

ELYRIA — The county coroner postponed the autopsy on Safety Service Director Chris Eichenlaub for a day while waiting for medical officials to determine if he could be an organ donor as desired.

Chris Eichenlaub

“LifeBanc has to do its thing first and the autopsy is delayed until then,” County Coroner Stephen Evans said.

Evans said the delay hasn’t changed his preliminary finding that Eichenlaub, 58, died after suffering a medical event, possibly a heart attack, causing him to lose control of his 2007 Ford Explorer on Sunday morning. He went through two yards and hit two trees before coming to rest in the front yard of a home near Park and Miami avenues.

Hadie Bartholomew, spokeswoman for LifeBanc, the area’s nonprofit organ procurement organization, said patient privacy prevents her from commenting on specific cases, but in general when a person dies and they have expressed a desire to be an organ donor, doctors must determine if they are a good candidate.

Steps are taken to keep the organs viable for transplant and — if a person is a good candidate for donation — organs are typically recovered within 24 to 36 hours.

Bartholomew said any one person can donate up to eight organs — heart, both lungs, both kidneys, the pancreas, liver and intestines — and tissue matter. And 98 percent of people who wish to be organ donors state so when getting driver’s licenses, just like Eichenlaub, Bartholomew said.

The Laubenthal-Mercado Funeral Home is handing funeral arrangements.

In the meantime, fellow city officials who worked with Eichenlaub daily continue to mourn.

Elyria City Council members have decided to postpone tonight’s Finance and Community Development Committee meetings.

Council President Forrest Bullocks, D-2nd Ward, said the meeting was postponed because Eichenlaub was an important part of the city’s operations and many employees are in shock over his death.

“I still can’t believe it,” Bullocks said.

Agenda items scheduled for discussion tonight will be discussed at a future meeting.

Bullocks said the only pressing item involves whether Council will give Mayor Bill Grace the authority to discuss a possible agreement with the Lorain County Metro Parks on the operations of Cascade Park. A committee is being formed to be a part of the discussion, and Bullocks said those committee members will be discussed and chosen at 6:30 p.m. Monday, just prior to the regular Council meeting.

Councilman Tom Callahan, D-at large, and head of the Council’s Community Development Committee, said he always found Eichenlaub to be knowledgeable on city issues and easy to work with as an administrator. He considered him to be more of a friend.

“I still can’t grasp what happened,” he said.

Councilman Vic Stewart, D-at large, and head of the Finance Committee, said Eichenlaub had his hand in everything and postponing the meeting made sense.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.