BOSTON -- Yankees general manager Brian Cashman expects a resolution to his unsettled contract situation in the very near future, but he insists that even he is not sure of the eventual outcome.

Cashman said before Friday's game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park that he plans to discuss his status with the Steinbrenner family shortly after the club's season ends this weekend.

"It'll be soon," Cashman said. "It's not going to be today or tomorrow, but I promise you that you're not going to have to worry about it dragging out."

Cashman's contract expires Oct. 31, but club co-chairmen Hank and Hal Steinbrenner have both publicly stated that they are interested in having Cashman back for 2009.

The Yankees' general manager since 1998, Cashman has presided over four World Series titles and a string of 13 consecutive playoff appearances that ended this season with the club's official elimination on Tuesday. He signed a three-year deal worth approximately $5.5 million in October 2005.

"It's an incredible opportunity to be the GM of the New York Yankees," Cashman said. "I understand that, and it also comes with an incredible amount of responsibility that I've always taken seriously. With that being said, there's a decision that's coming. You make sure that you make the right one for everybody."

Cashman said that no contract offer has taken place, only an expression of interest on the part of ownership to continue the relationship. Cashman said that there had been no negotiations, and no official meeting had been planned as of Friday.

"I'm going to talk to the Steinbrenners at the end of the year, and it's as simple as that," Cashman said. "It will get resolved, and we'll move forward. It's not something to talk about other than that. It won't drag out.

"There's nothing to chase right now because no decisions have been made. I'm not sitting on a decision that I haven't revealed to anybody."

The Yankees have plenty of moves to consider this offseason, one that will begin earlier than any other in the Cashman era. New York figures to have approximately $86 million in salary coming off the books, in the form of players like Jason Giambi, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte and Ivan Rodriguez, among others.

Cashman said that, in fairness, the GM position must be solidified before any of those decisions can be made.

"It's an important next step for everybody, and it's not something that you want to drag out," Cashman said. "Once the winter hits, it hits, and you've got to get started."

There was one piece of forward-looking business conducted on Friday, as Pettitte, a potential free agent, had a second MRI taken on his ailing left shoulder in New York and learned that it came back without red flags.

Cashman said that the examination was performed as an information-gathering exercise toward the winter. Pettitte has expressed some interest in pitching at the new Yankee Stadium but is undecided if he can mentally hold up to the strain of another regular season, having faded in the second half, losing five of his past six starts.

"His shoulder was cranky at the end, so we're trying to get as much information as we can while he's here -- not that it means he's decided to pitch or that we're definitely going to have him back," Cashman said.

"There's always common ground you have to find there, so those things line up. But what we need to know, obviously, is that we all know his shoulder has been bothering him, [but] to what degree?"