Braves scrounging for pitching help

The Braves signed well-traveled pitcher Elmer Dessens off a Mexican League team Wednesday, signaling that they are turning over every rock for pitching reinforcements to get through the season.

Dessens, 37, signed a major-league contract for the rest of the season. The right-hander will be added to the roster later this week, unless he’s needed sooner.

He has a 48-61 record and 4.50 ERA in 356 major-league games including 140 starts, and was 2-2 with a 7.15 ERA in 17 games for Milwaukee and Colorado in 2007. Dessens hasn’t pitched in the majors since.

After being released by Pittsburgh late in spring training, he joined the Mexico City Red Devils and went 10-2 with a 4.03 ERA, including 2-0 with a 2.10 ERA in his last five starts.

He was 3-0 in the Mexican League playoffs, and pitched eight innings of five-hit, one-run ball in a 6-1 win in the league championship game Sunday.

The Braves will use him in long relief or to start, whatever the greater need.

In 2006, Dessens made 62 relief appearances with Kansas City and the Los Angeles Dodgers and had a 4.56 ERA with 52 strikeouts in 77 innings. His best seasons came with Cincinnati, including 11-5 with a 4.28 ERA in 40 games (16 starts) in 2000, and 7-8 with a 3.03 ERA in 30 starts in 2001.

Kotchman to restricted list

The Braves moved first baseman Casey Kotchman to the restricted list Wednesday after he reached the seven-day maximum period on the bereavement list.

Kotchman is with his mother, who remains in intensive care at a hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla. The family has asked that her illness not be disclosed.

If a player isn’t ready to return to the team after the seven-day maximum on the bereavement list, he must either be transferred to the restricted list or the team must play short-handed, with 24 players on its 25-man roster.

Players are not paid while on the restricted list.