"Phil Hughes knows he will receive a $3.2 million salary in 2012. Suddenly, though, little else is certain for the one-time phenom.

The 25-year-old righthander agreed to a one-year contract Monday, avoiding arbitration.

But when the Yanks acquired starters Michael Pineda (trade with Seattle) and Hiroki Kuroda (free agent) Friday, the team stashed Hughes in a corner with Freddy Garcia and A.J. Burnett.

With the back end of the rotation suddenly crowded, Hughes will have to earn a job in it. After an All-Star campaign in 2010, he hardly made a compelling case for himself last year, when injuries and ineffectiveness limited him to just 742/3 regular-season innings, during which he posted a 5.79 ERA."