Brian Cashman has reportedly told the Yankees that he wants to return (or not). They have affirmatively indicated an interest in having him return.

Cashman’s decision is likely to come down to this: With which face of his boss, Janus Steinbrenner, will he have to work? Happily for Yankees fans, there are growing indications that while Yammerin’ Hank has been the mouth of the organization, Prince Hal might be the brains.

I haven’t followed the Yankees as, ahem, closely as I usually do these last few weeks. But there have been a couple of indications in newspapers that that are worth noting.

Here’s the New York Times this week:

Hank Steinbrenner was active last winter in retaining Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera with expensive long-term deals. But he attended no more than three games at Yankee Stadium all season. It was Hal Steinbrenner who worked closely with Cashman, traveling from Tampa, Fla., to New York for regular meetings.

Hal Steinbrenner, who was thought last winter to be merely in charge of team finances, has taken an active role in baseball operations, an arrangement that does not bother Cashman.

And here’s the Daily News’s Mike Lupica:

You don’t know about the Steinbrenner brothers, only one of whom had the grace to show up for the last night of Yankee Stadium. The younger one, Hal, tries to learn the ropes and actually show up at the ballpark, to work with Cashman, a general manager he wants back. The other brother, Hank, is as desperate to be somebody, to be loud and make people notice him, as his father was when he first hit town 35 years ago, occasionally treated like half-a-genius instead of some yahoo in the bleachers because he returns phone calls, as if making headlines is all that matters around here.

Hopefully this is the calculation Cashman makes: Let Hank return phone calls to the reporters; let him grab headlines and shoot his mouth. Behind the scenes it’s Hal and me, and Hal actually wants to learn how to do this right. If he can keep Hank in check I can do my job. And with the biggest payroll in the game, why leave?

Stay tuned.