Another day, another former Thunder pitcher finds his way into a new organization. This time it's Kanekoa Texeira, a two-time Trenton alumnus, who signed yesterday with the Cincinnati Reds.

He joins former teammate Andrew Brackman, who inked a major league deal with Cincy earlier in the week.

Like Brackman, Texeira does have some major league service time under his belt, although his experience in The Show is considerably more extensive.

The affable Hawaiian appeared in 49 games over the last two seasons, compiling a 1-1 record and a 4.66 ERA with the Mariners and Royals. He never appeared in the big leagues as a Yankee, though he did face them four times in 2010.

Of the Yankees' minor league free agent pitchers, Josh Schmidt, Logan Kensing, Brad Halsey, Francisco Castillo and Wilkins Arias are still on the market.

One of his three career home runs allowed was against Alex Rodriguez. Mark Teixeira scored on the bomb, marking a lovely collision of Texeira and Teixeira.

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)

Larry Stone of the Seattle Times reported earlier this morning that the former Thunder reliever's time with the Mariners had run its course, and that Texeira must clear waivers before he can rejoin the Yankees system.

With Seattle, Texeira was 0-1 with a 5.30 ERA in 16 games. He had a WHIP of 1.71 and had walked 10 men in 18 2/3 innings.

With Opening Day mere hours away, the day has come for me to slave away on the Thunder preview section, which will be on newsstands in tomorrow's Trentonian. This means I will be working on features on Austin Romine (he'll be on the cover), D.J. Mitchell, Brandon Laird, as well as previews of each team in the Eastern League.

There may also be stories on Jeremy Bleich, Josh Schmidt's experience in the Venezuelan League, and much more. Check it out tomorrow.

For now, though, take a read of my stories yesterday on Wilkin De La Rosa and Lance Pendleton moving to the bullpen, and Josh Schmidt's reaction to coming back to Trenton to begin 2010. The latter is a newspaper-only story.

Also, former Thunder pitcher Kanekoa Texeira made his major league debut last night. He got his first strikeout, but also picked up the loss.