Strong, silent type

“I think he’ll take it fine,’’ Bay said with a small chuckle. “You’ll find out when you meet him.’’

Boston will meet LaRoche tonight when he wears a Red Sox uniform for the first time after being acquired Wednesday from the Pirates. The cadre of Sox who already know LaRoche expect him to fit in the clubhouse and at first base with little fanfare or haste, because that, they said, is how LaRoche - the son of a former big league reliever who lives on a Kansas ranch in the offseason - does everything.

“He’s a laid-back kind of guy,’’ said shortstop Nick Green, who has been friends with LaRoche since their days in the Atlanta Braves farm system. “He ain’t going to be in a hurry to do a whole lot. But on the other hand, he’s not dogging it. He’s going to give you 100 percent. He just brings things that are positive to a team.’’

When Bay entered the Red Sox clubhouse for the first time, the only new teammate he knew was Sean Casey. LaRoche has played with Bay, Green, J.D. Drew, John Smoltz, and Rocco Baldelli with either the Braves, the Pirates, or, in Baldelli’s case, in a fall league.

Players gravitate toward LaRoche, whom Bay called one of the best teammates he has had. Shortly after they met in a fall league in 2002, Baldelli went fishing with LaRoche.

“We didn’t even know what we were doing,’’ Baldelli said.

Green and LaRoche rose through the Braves farm system together, and in 2004 they played their rookie seasons together. After a series against the Dodgers, both teams prepared to fly out of Atlanta. The Braves took two buses to the airport. When the bus Green and LaRoche rode on arrived at the airport, a second bus pulled up alongside.

Chipper Jones lightheartedly threw them off the bus and told them to board the other one, which they realized belonged to the Dodgers, the team they had just swept. LaRoche and Green hopped aboard anyway, walked to the back, and sat down.

Few Dodgers players were on the bus. One of them, Alex Cora, turned and asked, “What are you doing?’’ Green talked on a cellphone. LaRoche said nothing.

The Dodgers’ traveling secretary walked down the aisle and noticed Green and LaRoche. “What are you guys doing?’’ he asked.

“Huh?’’ LaRoche said.

“You’re not supposed to be on this bus.’’

“They just kicked us off that bus,’’ LaRoche said, purposefully quizzical. “Now you’re kicking us off this bus?’’

On Wednesday, Green burst into laughter as he recalled the story and LaRoche’s reaction.

“He was just calm about it,’’ Green said.

In 2007, his first year in Pittsburgh, LaRoche started the season in a brutal slump. Jones, a close friend, saw LaRoche’s batting average in the paper and called LaRoche. “Tell me this is a misprint,’’ Jones said.

“Oh, no, you’re seeing it right,’’ LaRoche said. “It’s a hard .091, so it’s not that bad.’’

“His personality, there’s never a huge sense of urgency in anything,’’ Bay said. “He moves in slow motion almost.’’

That laconic demeanor gave rise to an outside perception of LaRoche as uninterested or lazy. With the Braves, he came under particular scrutiny when he fielded a routine ground ball at first and walked slowly enough to the bag that the runner beat him.

“I think that’s a knock on him, that he doesn’t try,’’ Green said. “That’s just how he is. That makes a lot of people more successful. Sometimes he gets a bad rap that he’s not trying, but he’s going to be there every day. He’s laid-back, but he’s got some spice to him, too.’’

Last month, the Pirates traded Nate McLouth, their best power hitter, to the Braves. The Pirates were just six games out of first place in the NL Central at the time of the trade, and several players vented their frustration, including LaRoche in a rare but telling show of passion.

“There ain’t a guy in here who ain’t [ticked] off about it,’’ LaRoche said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It’s kind of like being with your platoon in a battle, and guys keep dropping around you. You keep hanging on, hanging on, and you’ve got to figure: How much longer till you sink?’’

Early in his minor league career, LaRoche threw bullpen sessions twice a week, in part at the Braves’ urging and in part on his own whim. “He’s got a great arm,’’ Green said.

He inherited it from his father, Dave, who pitched in the majors for 14 seasons as a reliever and made the AL All-Star team in 1976 and 1977. LaRoche also played for his father at Seminole Junior College in Florida.

LaRoche has typically thrived in the second half of the season, a testament to his easygoing style and ability to brush off rough starts.

Boston, as Bay can attest, will bring far more attention than Pittsburgh. Knowing LaRoche and having experienced the transition himself, Bay isn’t worried about his friend.

“One of a kind,’’ Bay said. “I don’t think he’s going to try to change anything.’’