How are these former Pirates players doing with their new teams in 2024?

3 major injuries to former Pirates players

Miguel Andújar, Oakland Athletics

Andújar seemed to have a lot of promise in his days with the Yankees, finishing second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2018. The Pirates took a flyer on him in 2022 and 2023, but it just didn't work out. His 39 games with the Pirates yielded just a .250/.292/.450 slash line and just four home runs.

The Pirates designated Andújar for assignment and the rebuilding Oakland Athletics decided to take a flyer. This might be the move that could come back to haunt them the most if Andújar can figure it out. He was placed on the injured list in March while recovering from surgery on his lateral meniscus. He was sent out on a rehab assignment recently, so hopefully A's fans and Pirates fans will get to see him soon.

Vince Velasquez, Free Agent

Velasquez was a solid addition to the rotation last year and looked like he was back to being a solid mid-rotation arm. Unfortunately, Velasquez had to undergo surgery to his UCL in June of 2023 and will be out through at least half of 2024. He isn't under contract with anyone for this year and will likely have to take a mid-year deal next year to prove his health and work back into a rotation.

Robert Stephenson, Los Angeles Angels

The biggest name on this list is a reliever that has had an interesting career. He has spent time with four different teams, but ended up with the Pirates after the Rockies designated the righty for assignment.

He was solid in limited action in 2022, but struggled mightily in 2023 before getting traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for Alika WIlliams. This move was huge for Stephenson; during his 38.1 innings with the Rays, he had a solid 2.35 ERA and an insane 14.1 K/9 rate and 1.9 BB/9 rate.

This earned him a huge payday in the 2023 offseason, signing a three-year deal with the Angels for $33 million. This seemed like a huge get for the Angels, but unfortunately for both Stephenson and the Angels, he had to undergo Tommy John and will miss all of the 2024 season and likely some of the 2025 season. Hopefully Stephenson can get healthy and return to form in 2025.