Thankfully, it's finally over. The Indians' 2009 season sputtered to a predictable conclusion Sunday, with another loss in Boston, capping a four-game sweep by the Red Sox. All you need to know about the Indians' season is the lineup lame duck manager Eric Wedge ran out there for game number 162. The last three batters in the Indians' lineup had batting averages of .176, .144, and .143. Six of the nine players in the Indians' lineup were rookies.

So the Indians finished the season with a record of 65-97. It's the seventh highest loss total in franchise history, the most since they lost a club record 105 games in 1991. In a season-long collapse, the Indians out-did themselves at the end. They lost their last five in a row. They lost 17 of their last 21 games. They finished the season losing a team-record 15 consecutive road games. Their last win on the road came on Aug. 30. Since that date their overall record was 7-26.

Going back to Aug. 27, if you eliminate the games they played against Baltimore, the only team in the league with a worse record than the Indians, the Tribe's record through the end of the season was 4-28.

I think an argument could be made that, given the expectations for the team going into the sesaon, and given the reality of its final record, that this is the most disappointing season in franchise history. Certainly it's one of the most embarrassing.

From mid to late August through the end of the season the Indians ceased to be competitive. They played four, five, and sometimes six rookies in most of the games over the last six weeks of the season. The manager and all the coaches were fired. Home attendance was the second lowest in 18 years. The 2009 season has been a complete and utter disaster.

Going forward, there are some promising young players on the roster, and a handful more _ acquired, naturally, from other teams, not home-grown _ in the minor league system. But it's going to be a long time before the Indians have a season as sour as this one.

In 1991, nobody expected the Indians to be any good, and they weren't _ they lost 105games. In 2009 almost everybody expected the Indians to be very good _ and they were horrible, losing 97 games.

It was a season of embarrassment for an organization that has a long way to go to re-establish itself as a competitive team in the American League.

Wednesday was one of the more awkward days I've spent in the Indians' clubhouse. The Manager and all the coaches had been fired, but everyone tried to go about their business as though nothing had happened. If you'd just walked in there for the first time you'd never have guessed the drama that took place over the previous 24 hours.

In situations like this the media tends to go to the veteran players to get their reaction to the news, but veteran players are almost non-existent in the Indians' clubhouse. Except for Travis Hafner, Jamey Carroll, Kelly Shoppach, and Grady Sizemore, almost none of the other players had been on the team all year.

It was s difficult day for everyone. The players, especially the rookies, didn't know quite how to act. The coaches talked to reporters and said all the right things. Wedge spoke during a press conference and said all the things you figured he'd say.

Regardless of how you feel about Wedge as a manager, his comportment and demeanor during the last couple of weeks was expemplary, especially given that he was all but certain that he was going to be fired. Still, Wedge answered all the questions from the media, even those that referenced next season, as though he was not only going to be the manager through the end of this season, but into next year as well - even though both parties (the media and Wedge) knew that was a longshot.

All around it was a very strange 10 days. There is no handbook for how a manager should act when he knows he is probably going to get fired, but if there was, Wedge would be a good choice to write it.

You may be wondering why the Indians placed Grady Sizemore and Joe Smith on the disabled list Monday. There wouldn't seem to be any need to do so because in September teams are permitted to expand their rosters from 25 all the way up to 40 players, if they so choose. So there is no need to place an injured player on the DL in order to call up a replacement from the minor leagues. Teams already have plenty of manpower in September.

So why did the Indians put Sizemore and Smith on the DL? It's a complicated issue, but the short answer is that it was done in case Sizemore and Smith are not ready to play by opening day next year, in which case insurance would cover their salaries while they were out with their injuries. That insurance only kicks in if the player is on the DL, so that's why those moves were made.

One of the more revealing moments in this Indians season happened on Friday, Sept. 4, when the Indians' starting left fielder was utility infielder Jamey Carroll. The Indians were short on outfielders that night because Shin-Soo Choo had left the team to be with his wife, who was about to have a babey, and Trevor Crowe, who was activated off the disabled list the day before was not able to play the outfield. This raises a couple obvious questions: First, why was Crowe activated if he was still hurt enough that he couldn't play the outfield? And, secondly, how, with major league rosters able to be expanded in September, could the Indians run out of players for ANY position?

Playing an infielder in the outfield because you don't have enough outfielders in the month of September, when teams are allowed to expand their rosters up to 40 players, if they so choose, is inexcusable. It's also the latest in a series of strange decisions made by Indians officials throughout this season.

The decision to start Carroll in the outfield instead of the injured Crowe carried with it considerable irony as well. The Indians chose not to play Crowe in the outfield because he was injured, yet they played Grady Sizemore in the outfield virtually the entire season even though Sizemore was not only injured, but injured to the point that he needed not one but two surgeries.

It's been not just a bad Indians season, but a very strange one.

Carlos Carrasco's debut with the Indians Tuesday night in Detroit was shaky, and not unexpected. Major league debuts for pitchers can be dicey. It's difficult to pitch effectively when the pitcher is also battling nerves. Carrasco's first inning looked like that of a pitcher who lost a battle with his nerves. The first six batters Carrasco facaed in the first inning all reached base, and he gave up six hits and four runs in the inning.

Carrasco threw 74 pitches in three innings, before being removed from the game, and I would dismiss his pitching line. You don't make a judgment on a pitcher off one start, good or bad, much less one start that is also the pitcher's major league debut. Let's wait until the end of the season, when Carrasco will presumably have had three or four more starts, before forming any opinions on him. This much is certain, though: Carrasco needs to be a significant addition to the pitching staff, and the sooner the better. The Indians traded Cy Young winner Cliff Lee to Philadelphia to get Carrasco and three other players, none of whom were ready for the major leagues at the time of the trade.

Carrasco is the first of the group to make it to the big leagues. If he's ultimately not at least a middle of the rotation starter, the Lee trade is going to look even worse than it already does.

Outfielder Michael Brantley also made his major league debut Tuesday night. Brantley brings two much-needed qualities to the Indians' lineup: He's fast, and he doesn't strike out very much. That should make him a good fit in an Indians lineup that has too many players who are slow and strike out too much. Brantley didn't hit for a high average at Columbus, but he is supposedly an above average defensive outfielder. He's a very interesting player who bears watching in September. An impressive showing in the last month of the season by Brantley may convince Indians officials to move Matt LaPorta to first base, in order to make room in the outfield for Brantley in 2010.

With the Indians having now settled into the business of finishing this disappointing season, with the Browns underway, and with the Cavaliers never very far from being in the spotlight, the furor over the future of Eric Wedge as manager of the Indians has died down somewhat.

But it is still an issue, one that won't be resolved, one way or the other, until after the season. Only General Manager Mark Shapiro and club president Paul Dolan know which was the organization is leaning on that crucial decision. But, given the magnitude of the underachieving by the team this year, it's difficult to imagine that the club will go into the 2010 season without making some changes. The only question seems to be how sweeping those changes will be.

Will Wedge be fired? Will Wedge stay, but his coaching staff fired? Selected coaches fired? Or will it be a back up the truck wholesale housecleaning, with Wedge and all his coaches being shown the door and the Indians starting next season with a completely new field staff?

The spectrum of potential change ranges from no changes at all to changing everyone. Suffice to say that the most interesting upcoming date for the Indians future will be Monday, Oct. 5. That's the day after the last game of the season. And that will likely be the day when the changes, if any, changes are made.

Is there anyone left on the Indians' roster that another team would want? Talk about an "everything must go!'' sale. The Indians have just about stripped their roster clean of all tradeable veterans. In the last six weeks the Indians have traded Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, Mark DeRosa, Rafael Betancourt, Ryan Garko, Ben Francisco, and Carl Pavano. That's almost one-third of their opening day roster. That's almost unprecedented.

It wasn't just one white flag trade. It was a flurry of them. The Indians would undoubtedly love to make a couple more such trades, but don't look for General Manager Mark Shaprio to be getting any calls asking about the availability of Travis Hafner and Kerry Wood. Shapiro would love to trade both of them, given that the Indians are still on the hook for about $50 million to those two players through 2012. Wood has one year left at $11 million. The rest of that $50 million will go to Hafner, who is signed through the 2012 season.

Clearly the Indians would love to trade one or both of those players, but it's very unlikely that will happen. Thus, the Indians will go into next season with two players in their mid-30s coming off bad years making huge money. Those two contracts have become albatrosses for the payroll-cutting Tribe. The best Indians officials can hope for is Wood getting off to a great start next season, perhaps setting the table for a potential mid-season trade, since by that time the remainder of Wood's salary would be about $5 million, which a contender, desperate for a closer, might be winning to take.

Hafner? It's unlikely he would ever be able to hit to the level that would make what's left of his contract attractive to another team.