What's it going to take for the Cardinals to start hitting?

The Cardinals are off to another slow start.

The club was only able to muster one run against their division rival on Friday night, and the questions only continue to get louder.

At this point, we all know what the culprit is, and it's the offense. The pitching has been much better than expected, but guys like Lance Lynn and Sonny Gray aren't getting a whole lot of run support.

Last year, the pitching was so bad that it masked the offensive struggles. But this year, the bats are what is holding the Cardinals back.

So, what's it going to take for the Cardinals to finally get going offensively like they should? In this piece, we will discuss the offensive struggles and what can be done to remedy them.

What will fix the Cardinals offense?

To start, the Cardinals are near the bottom of the entire league in several important categories.

They're 24th in average, RBI, slugging percentage, and OPS. They're 25th in on-base percentage and 29th in home runs.

Indeed, the Cardinals are lucky that they aren't worse than 9-10. But the bats have to get going. They aren't getting on base, and when the Cardinals do have opportunities, they either strand runners or hit into double plays.

This is what leads to poor offensive performances and wasted games. There are a lot of games quite frankly that the Cardinals should have won that they didn't. The offense isn't solely to blame for all of them, but for a lot of these games, the offense has been quite poor. Just one hit could have changed the fortunes and turned a loss into a win.

We can talk all we want about how the Cardinals are missing several guys like Tommy Edman and how options are somewhat limited. But the truth is that there are still plenty of guys that should be producing but aren't. Paul Goldschmidt and Jordan Walker are clear examples.

So, what can the Cardinals do? Unfortunately, offensive struggles have been the theme for the past decade or so, and even with Jeff Albert gone, the system he put in place is still being used and it's bogging the Cardinals down. But there are things that can be done.

I alluded to this in a previous piece about why I think Goldschmidt should be removed from the No. 2 hole, but a lineup change would certainly help. It wouldn't fix all their problems, but a change of pace can't hurt.

I think the first step would be to remove Goldschmidt from that spot in the lineup. He is off to a terrible start and isn't showing any signs of getting going. I think pushing him down near the bottom of the order might be a wise choice too.

Brendan Donovan, Masyn Winn, and Lars Nootbaar are all doing well. In my opinion, this would be a solid top three in the lineup. With the way Winn is hitting, he needs to be near the top of the order and not down at the bottom.

When Edman, Dylan Carlson, and Matt Carpenter come back, Walker should either be given some time off or sent to the minors. He hasn't looked like himself just yet and is hitting the ball on the ground too much. I'm not saying Alec Burleson is setting the world on fire, but giving him some chances may not hurt.

Also, Ivan Herrera has proven that he can hit. He should be getting everyday at-bats and swapping with Willson Contreras between catching and DHing.

This won't fix everything, but it's a good place to start.