Kerry Wood's placement on the disabled list to the start the season will mark the closer's 13th career trip to the land once dominated by Carl Pavano (the Yankee version).

Wood is expected to miss all of April -- and possibly the first couple weeks of May -- because of a moderate strain in his upper back. The assumption is fill-in closer Chris Perez is just keeping the seat warm for the pitcher who has saved 54 games in 66 tries the last two seasons.

(Cue Lee Corso, since it's never too early for college football.) Not so fast, my friend.

Wood and the Indians lead our look at the six most volatile closing situations in baseball. It's so extensive we're going to drag it out into two parts.

INDIANS

Wood needs to finish 55 games to vest an $11 million option for next season, a salary the Indians would want to pay almost as much as Travis Hafner's. Wood's injury helps their chances, especially since the Tribe's struggles resulted in only 55 innings pitched for their closer last year, but if Wood comes back in May and the Indians' offense keeps them somewhat competitive ... then what?

Then Wood will get the chance to close games and prove he's healthy. If he does both, it's not out of the realm of possibility the Tribe will try to trade him in an effort to both get younger and cheaper (options away!).

If that's the case, don't be surprised if Perez both begins and ends the season as the Tribe's closer.

The 24-year-old will help you in strikeouts (he has 110 in 98 2/3 career innings), but he can be erratic (roughly one walk per two innings pitched in two years). He does, however, have the look (6-foot-4, 230 pounds) and stuff to be a closer.

Wood's injury leaves him as a low-end No. 3 closing option in deeper leagues. Perez should be considered in the 30-35 range among all relievers, but don't be surprised if he is among the top 20 near the end of the season.

COLORADO

Huston Street, once viewed as a top-five closer entering the season, likely will miss most of April because of lingering shoulder stiffness. He hopes to return in a few weeks, and I certainly am not Dr. James Andrews, but the thought of "lingering" shoulder problems scares me enough to drop Street to mid-level No. 2 closer status in deeper leagues.

Lefty Franklin Morales, who had seven saves last September, will close in Street's absence. During a 10-day span last September, when Street was sidelined, Morales was 6-for-6 in save opportunities, throwing six scoreless innings and striking out six. He was a starter in his first two big-league seasons and hasn't been overpowering in his career (although he did have 41 K's in 40 innings last season).

Morales is a decent free-agent option for the season's first month and is worth playing in deeper leagues.

HOUSTON

The Astros signed Brandon Lyon to a three-year, $15 million contract prior to the season, and it likely wasn't to be a setup man. But that's exactly what he'll be, at least for the time being.

Matt Lindstrom, who was 15-for-17 in save chances for the Marlins last season, will man the back end of the bullpen to begin the season. Lindstrom was shaky with the Marlins in 2009, compiling a 5.89 ERA and allowing 54 hits and 24 walks in 47 1/3 innings (a 1.65 WHIP). He's also not a big strikeout asset (an average of 7.1 K's per 9 innings the last two seasons).

Lyon, meanwhile, had 26 saves in 2008 with the Diamondbacks, a year in which he also compiled an unimpressive 4.70 ERA and 1.48 WHIP. And he's even worse of a strikeout pitcher than Lindstrom (Lyon has averaged 5.8 K's per 9 innings in his career).

The verdict: Lindstrom is a No. 3 reliever in deeper mixed leagues. If you need saves badly, Lyon should be an option at some point, since Lindstrom's hold on the job is shakier than the Tribe's financial situation.

Later this week: We'll break down the bullpens of Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Toronto.

I'm back from vacation, we're anxiously awaiting news on Charlie Villanueva's free-agent destination and the Indians have raised the white flag faster than Tracy McGrady's knees.

Two out of three ain't bad, but the thought of Chris Perez being the cornerstone of a trade involving Mark DeRosa is quite the opposite. OK, I've wasted enough of your time ... On to the much-anticipated, two-weeks-in-the-making Pick Three.

As always, these are players who are owned in fewer than 50 percent of the leagues on ESPN.com.

Juan Rivera, OF, Angels (owned in 49.6 percent of the ESPN leagues): A surge of 11.7 percent in the past couple of days almost took him off the list, which means owners have belatedly noticed Rivera's June. He headed into Tuesday night's game at Texas with a .302 batting average, eight homers, 24 RBI and a .955 OPS in 96 at-bats this month. For the season, he's batting .307 with 13 homers and 43 RBI in 251 at-bats. Rivera won't help you on the basepaths (he has nine steals in 621 career games), but he will provide a power boost and increase your batting average.

Tommy Hanson, SP, Braves (43.1 percent): He, too, has seen a big spike in ownership (up 7.3 percent this week). The Braves' rookie right-hander is 4-0 with a 2.48 ERA in his first five big-league starts. He's won each of his last four starts, and he hasn't allowed a run in his last three. The only area in which he's been lacking thus far is strikeouts (18 in 29 innings), but I would expect that to change. Hanson struck out 463 in 389 innings in the minor leagues, and he fanned 90 while compiling a 1.49 ERA in 66 1/3 innings in Triple-A in 2009.

Fernando Nieve, SP, Mets (6.8 percent): The first two players on this list were gimmes, but this is much more of a reach. In NL-only or deep ESPN leagues, Nieve is a luxury because you can start him as both a reliever and a starter. The 26-year-old won his first three starts, then received a reality check on Monday at Milwaukee, when he allowed 11 hits and three runs in 3 1/3 innings. Once a highly touted Astros prospect, don't expect him to be a No. 2 or 3 starter. But if you need a No. 5 for a week, he can be useful if he can hold his spot in the Mets' rotation.

-- Fishing for a closer? If so, it's worth looking into acquiring a couple of Marlins.

Matt Lindstrom, who had 14 saves in 16 chances despite a 6.52 ERA that would fit right in with the Tribe's bullpen, will be out at least six weeks because of an elbow injury.

His job seemed to belong to Dan Meyer, who is 1-0 with a 1.99 ERA, one save and 30 strikeouts in 31 2/3 innings. The 27-year-old, however, was removed after recording two outs and running into trouble in the ninth inning on Monday. His replacement, Leo Nunez, got the final out and his first save.

Nunez, 25, and Meyer could share the closer duties for now. For the long term, I would expect Nunez to have more fantasy value.

Both pitchers are useful only in deep category leagues in which saves tend to be overvalued. Nunez is owned in 5.8 percent of the ESPN leagues, and Meyer is at 2.8 percent.

We'll be back later this week with a look at John Smoltz and Boston's starting rotation, and have a look ahead to the second half of the season in Saturday's print and online editions.

Good luck and remember to thank the owners in your league who dropped Gavin Floyd and Ricky Nolasco.