3 ways to fix the Cardinals struggling offense as right now

Fix #2 - Play Ivan Herrera every day

Ever since Nootbaar came back, the conversation has been "How can the Cardinals keep Ivan Herrera in the lineup?". Well, without Nootbaar in center field, it's not really possible outside of sitting one of Gorman, Walker, or Donovan. Well, moving Nootbaar to center field allows for a new arrangement and gets Herrera's bat into the lineup.

Herrera or Contreras can be the designated hitter each day while the other one catches, Donovan plays left field, and Nootbaar is in center. There'll be days when one of Scott or Siani plays in center or Donovan is needed to fill in along the infield, so they'll still need to move guys around. But with the way Herrera's bat has played (.811 OPS, 4th on the team this year), they really need his bat each day, at least until some of their other bats get going.

There really isn't a ton of risk with playing both catchers most days. If some kind of injury were to happen to the guy behind the plate, the one who is DHing that day can slide to catcher, and they just have to play classic National League baseball for the rest of that game and figure out if they need to recall Pages for the next game.

I'll say this again as well, this is not a long-term plan I am coming up with. Sure, it could develop into the way the Cardinals structure their lineup each day if it's clear that it makes them the best team possible, but assuming their other bats get going at some point, they can decrease some of Herrera's playing time, move Nootbaar back to left field, and reprioritize some defense again as needed. The goal is always to have a lineup that can be as predictable as possible for a manager, but when your team is not producing like it needs to, you have to get creative.

Speaking of getting creative, the next change has been suggested by many fans, and might actually need to happen in the near future.