Gerrit Cole got right to the point.



“How many mound visits have you made?” Cole asked Matt Blake, the new Yankees pitching coach.



The date was Dec. 3. The setting: A suite at the Fashion Island Hotel in Newport Beach, Calif. The purpose: For Cole, 29, to become acquainted with Yankees officials as he pondered which team to sign with as a free agent.



Blake, 34, had left a front-office position with the Indians to join the Yankees on Nov. 14. He had never been a pitching coach for a professional team, much less one for a major-league club. But here he was wooing Cole, part of a Yankees contingent that also included owner Hal Steinbrenner, general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone, as well as assistant GM Michael Fishman and former Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte.



So, how many in-game mound visits had Blake made as a professional pitching coach?



“He pulls his hand out and he starts counting on his fingers,”...