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It;s funny to watch New York whine and moan under these circumstances.  It's kind of like watching them complain to the on-field ump about Felix (hypothetically) putting pine tar on his best pitches... only to have them break a bat on one, leaving cork all over the infield.
All the news reports throughout the entire bidding process were talking about how 'the Yankees are out on Lee', 'New York is kicking the tires but is not serious,' or 'the Yankees are waiting until the offseason to get Lee (as they assuredly will).'  Steinbrenner and co did everything they could to MINIMIZE the market for Lee - to project the image that they didn't want Lee all that badly right now, and that even if they did there was no way someone of Montero's caliber was going to be involved in a trade.
Now, does that make sense?  Of course!  You want to get what you can at the best price possible in high-business scenarios - that's your job.  Don't pay more than you have to.  But in the end, Montero was always going to be the asking price... and the Yanks were trying to keep an artificial cap on the market price.  Should they really be surprised if Jack Z shopped their best offer around (if indeed that's what he did... sounds like Texas is the one who came on strong!) once they finally made it?
If New York hadn't been actively working to keep Montero's name out of the 'reasonable' speculation, Texas would have had to put Smoak on the table much earlier to be taken seriously.  Maybe New York would have had a chance to respond to Texas' heavy offer, rather than having the Adams injury cripple their bid at the last moment with no reaction time.  Or maybe New York just wouldn't have had so much egg on their face when Seattle went with their preference of Smoak.  Either way, it's not hard to argue that the Yankees sit in a disappointment of their own making.  Sometimes going the extra mile to keep prices down (denying almost all interest whatsoever, then jumping straight to the 'here's Montero' offer as if that was the plan all along) can backfire painfully into your face.