Oliver Perez: Pity Fu- uhm, Draft

I am sitting here at 1:30 on a lazy Wednesday, watching some Spring Training baseball, when who should be pitching for the New York Metropolitans but Oliver "Really? You want me to pitch Game 7? Really?!" Perez.
Now, there will be a host of Mets fans who happen to be fantasy managers who will somehow talk themselves into drafting him by pointing to his gritty, bulldog-like, UNLIKELY AND HIGHLY IMPROBABLE (emphasis added) start in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. Granted, this is his first start against live competition since last fall, but my observations have more to them than simple "rust."
Quite simply, Perez's mechanics are atrocious in every sense of the word. While I do not hold myself out as some expert scout of pitchers (being falsely modest, of course I'm an expert, I have a blog), I have done some pitching in my day and studied mechanics.
The problem that jumps out at me is that of his landing foot. From what I've seen when he was on Pittsburgh, he's always thrown crosswise, over his body, but somehow (at least when he was effective) he was able to get his weight and arm in the proper position (on top of the ball, throwing down) at the release of the ball. THAT is the magic he is missing nowadays. His body simply swings around his plant foot, dropping his arm, flattening EVERYTHING, including his once-hellacious slider.
For imagery, imagine this. You have a gate or door with an old school latch on it. Imagine the latch is the pitcher's arm. When you open the door, the latch (if it is in the upright position) will swing down. If you open the door quickly enough and with enough force, the latch will hang at a 90 degree angle to the door before pivoting downwards and hanging there.
This is what's happening to Perez's arm. He is unable to completely clear his hips, so instead of a diagonal right turn pulling his right arm and right hip down, he is just swinging around the doorpost that is his plant foot, which prevents his arm from throwing the ball DOWN into the hitter, instead slinging it on a level plane. Rick Peterson can kiss my ass.

-RJ