The New York Mets have lost four straight games, leaving them only three games above .500 entering Tuesday night's contest against the first-place Nationals. But it seems they're not giving up on the season quite yet.

According to ESPN New York's Adam Rubin, the Mets are exploring positive trade options, with particular interest in bolstering their relief corps. To that end, according to Rubin, "A major league source said one arm to which the Mets are paying close attention is Kansas City closer Jonathan Broxton."

While Broxton hasn't pitched as well as his 2.14 ERA might suggest, he's converted 22 of 26 save opportunities and given up just one home run in 33⅔ innings. His strikeout and walk rates ... well, they're not terrible, exactly ... though you'd like your closer to have a strikeout-to-walk ratio higher than 1.64.

Which Broxton does not. The powerful reliever who used to intimidate batters as a Dodger ... that pitcher seems to have disappeared, probably forever, replaced by a different pitcher who's not really capable of blowing batters away.