If I was in that camp and had an agent I might just have him tell the Pirates to drop dead.

Parse the statement carefully.

"Polanco was not injured during that workout" - technically true if he aggravated an existing injury.

"He actually injured his ankle during the season" - true, he missed 2 1/2 weeks in August with it.

"He opted out of those workouts" - also true.

"He has continued to battle swelling but no pain" - there was pain initially, as Kovacevic notes, but if the pain subsided before the swelling did, then he could easily be continuing to fight the swelling but not continuing to fight the pain, so again it may be technically true. I have had this particular problem myself, where the ankle remains swollen for several days without actually causing much pain at all.

It looks to me that the wording was, in fact, gone over very carefully to ensure that the Pirates could defend it in just this way if it became necessary. I have been known to do the same type of thing from time to time :) and it's not really uncommon for those in the public eye to choose words very carefully so that while they are not technically lying, they are trying to put a spin that is very different from the straight truth.

-- MWE

It's also worth noting that Pirates Prospects is disputing some of the factual aspects of Dejan's timeline, RE: the boot. See here.

I understand the "team-building" aspect of this. But you have to balance the minor benefit with the risks to some of your most important assets, and one wonders if there wasn't a less risky way they could have accomplished the same goals.