In the spirit of Jeff Marquez's return to Trenton this evening, I decided to do a little research. Marquez finds himself back at Waterfront Park after leaving the organization for a time, and he's not the only player to do so in recent memory. In fact, since I've been in New Jersey, I can count five players who have returned to the Thunder after spending time elsewhere in either pro or indy ball.

Those five are: Marquez, Brad Halsey, Justin Christian, Noah Hall and Kanekoa Texeira.

With that in mind, I sat down and looked up how many days each man went between
regular-season appearances at Waterfront Park. Here's how it breaks down:

Halsey - 2,841 days (Aug. 31, 2003 - June 12, 2011)
Marquez - 1,086 days (Aug. 28, 2008 - Aug. 19, 2011)
Christian - 1,051 days (June 21, 2007 -May 8, 2010)
Texeira - 698 days (Sept. 5, 2009 - Aug. 5, 2011)
Hall - 627 days (Sept. 3, 2007 - May 23, 2009)

And, as a special addendum, there's Justin Pope, the team's do-it-all coach and its former pitcher:

Pope - 1,318 days (Sept. 3, 2007 - April 14, 2011)

Yes, lady and gentleman, Brad Halsey is your new Thunder reliever. Among his notable accomplishments are:

- Traded with Javier Vazquez, Dioner Navarro and cash for Randy Johnson in 2005

- Traded to Oakland for Juan Cruz

- Twice drafted by the Yankees (2000, 2002)

- 40 major league starts, 286 1/3 innings, 14-19 record

- Allowed Barry Bonds' 714th career home run

He pitched last night in Tampa, which probably means he won't be pitching this evening.