Yankees just had no choice but to gift the Red Sox another golden opportunity

We've raked the New York Yankees over the coals lately for being too generous to the Boston Red Sox. Brian Cashman, no longer afraid to deal with his chief rival, has happily handed them a potential starting catcher (Carlos Narvaez), a rotation piece (Richard Fitts) and bullpen weapons (Garrett Whitlock, the surging Greg Weissert) in recent years.

It's hard to fault the Yankees for Sunday's below-the-surface roster shuffle that opened up another potential avenue for Boston to burn 'em, though.

Confronted with an opt-out clause, there was nothing New York reasonably could've done to both accommodate Dominic Smith's wishes and keep their own big-league roster as strong as possible. Smith's Triple-A surge in May ironically coincided with the Red Sox losing Triston Casas for the season and trying stopgap first baseman after stopgap first baseman. The end of May ironically coincided with the first Yankees and Red Sox series of the year, taking place next weekend in the Bronx. Neither of these realities are particularly joyous for the Yankees, who might have to contend with angry fans in June (what else is new?) if Boston takes the plunge and snags the Yankees' lunch, hoping for Smith's power output to continue to rise.

But adding Smith to the MLB roster would've resulted in either a Ben Rice demotion or a loss of infield versatility at second and third base (with Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s return also around the corner) - not to mention Giancarlo Stanton's eventual return, which is going to upend plenty with or without Smith, and would probably result in the veteran first baseman losing his roster spot anyhow.

Yankees have given the Red Sox a chance to bring back first baseman Dominic Smith after minor-league opt out

Bringing Smith to the bigs in New York would've made no sense ... unless the Yankees wanted to keep him out of Boston's grasp by any means necessary. Given the Yankees' current situation, that's extremely bad business.

That said ... of course we all know that if the Sox take the plunge, Smith will immediately supplant Abraham Toro as the biggest threat to the Yankees in their current lineup. The Yankees always get torched by the most random bat Boston employs. Add on the "revenge factor" (revenge for what, exactly, giving him the freedom he asked for?), and it's a wrap.

Nothing the Yankees could've done, though. They just have to hope Boston prefers Nate Eaton, Kristian Campbell, Romy Gonzalez, and the occasional Roman Anthony game out of position.