Uh-oh. Joe Torre might have queered the deal for everybody. From today's Newsday:

The Yankees are considering including a "non-disparagement clause" in future player and managerial contracts in order to prevent any more tell-all books such as "The Yankee Years," co-written by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a Yankee official said yesterday that some members of the front office staff already are required to sign a confidentiality agreement in order to protect "proprietary knowledge of our business model." The proposed clause is intended to ensure that future books about the Yankees are "positive in tone," and "do not breach the sanctity of our clubhouse."
The Yankees are said to feel betrayed by Torre's book, which has been interpreted as critical of some players, most notably Alex Rodriguez, and inaccurate in its recounting of the October 2007 meeting in Tampa at which Torre and the club agreed to part ways after four world championships and 12 consecutive playoff appearances.
Confidentiality agreements, some with meticulously spelled out rules and stipulated monetary penalties for their violation, are standard equipment in most contracts between celebrities and their hired staffs, as well as between corporations and their CEOs. The Mets are believed to have included similar clauses in their contracts with former manager Willie Randolph and former pitching coach Rick Peterson. Up to now, the Yankees never have included them in the contract of a player or manager.
"Up to now, we have always operated our employer-employee relationships on a basis of trust," the official said. "But we never expected what we got from Joe. We may have to get a little tougher on this issue."

As a sometime historian, I can't help thinking that nondisparagement clauses would be a terrible thing. As a sometime consumer of baseball books, I can't help thinking that this is the greatest idea in the world, if only because it might significantly chop the number of books about the Yankees that are published every year.

That's probably foolishly optimistic. I suppose there would be nearly as many books about the Yankees, except they would be less interesting. So I'm back to thinking this is terrible. It's not hard to justify a contract that prohibits an employee from disparaging his employer. But this nondisparagement clause lasts, what, forever? No player or manager is going to refuse to sign such a clause, if only because the Yankees' money is a lot bigger than any book publisher's.

Which I have to say -- as a sometime author -- is really a shame. And when it comes to nondisparagement clauses, there oughtta be a law.