Second baseman Nick Punto, who arrived in August 2012 with Crawford, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and the injured pitcher Josh Beckett in a salary-dumping trade that resuscitated both the Dodgers and the Red Sox, enjoyed playing in Boston. But some players, particularly when they and the team do not play to expectations, find the scrutiny from fans and the news media oppressive.

Crawford was one of them.

“You make $20 million, but it’s not like they’re begging me to hit a home run every time I go up there, you know what I’m saying?” Crawford said to ESPNLA.com in August, comparing the atmosphere in Los Angeles with Boston. “It’s not like I need to go 5 for 5 every at-bat and, if I don’t, I’m considered the worst player on the planet.”

Crawford is quick to admit that he responds best to positive reinforcement. It is why he flourished under Joe Maddon, the Rays’ relentlessly sunny manager. When he was hitless with four strikeouts in his first two games with the Red Sox, Crawford was dropped from third in the lineup to seventh. By the time the season was barely three weeks old, Crawford had batted in five spots in the lineup. At the end of April, he was batting .155.

Though Crawford, who injured his wrist and elbow, would eventually restore his average, batting .279 over the rest of the season, he became a face of Boston’s September collapse in 2011. He was not part of the beer-and-fried-chicken brigade, but the season ended for Crawford much the way it started: when he could not make a sliding catch, the Orioles scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth of the season’s final game. Moments later, the Rays beat the Yankees to eliminate the Red Sox.

Last season was all but lost to injuries, and two days after Crawford had surgery to repair torn ligaments in his left elbow, he was sent to the Dodgers in late August. The trade stunned baseball and elated Crawford.

“The day I called him, he was almost on the verge of tears he was so happy to come,” Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti said.

Crawford has since described the atmosphere in Boston as toxic and articulated how unpleasant the experience was. When he does, it invariably becomes a story in Boston and further cements his reputation there.