The core issue of what ails all Cubs teams

This Cub thing not only has swallowed up Matt Garza in a mere three months’ time.

Last week he became its voice.

Remember, we’re talking about a baseball team that historically is a comfortable country club of complacent convenience and convenient complacence.

The Cubs’ forgiving clubhouse is as good an explanation as any for the franchise going more than a century without winning a World Series.

Every new owner, general manager, manager and player comes to Wrigley Field thinking that he’s going to contribute to a changing culture.

Before long he’s snagged in a climate of contentment.

Garza was quoted in newspapers as saying, “I’m having a blast.”

This was a few days before the Cubs entered the all-star break with Major League Baseball’s second-worst record.

Garza himself has a 4-7 record and 4.26 ERA after the Cubs sent top prospects to Tampa Bay for him last winter.

Now, it is dangerous to read too much into Garza’s proclamation if you weren’t there, didn’t hear the context and couldn’t look into his eyes.

But Garza’s words do fit the debilitating mood that permeated the Cubs for much of the past, oh, 10 decades or so.

For example, this season Kerry Wood signed for less money to return to the Cubs after pitching in the playoffs for the Yankees last season.

Wood likely had an opportunity to go to another team that would give him a better chance at a World Series.

He preferred the Wrigley experience and a more settled family life. He’s so settled in that he might balk at being dealt to a contender before the July 31 trade deadline.

Then there’s Aramis Ramirez, who demonstrated his passion for baseball by declining an invitation to join the National League all-stars Tuesday night in Phoenix.

Like Wood, Ramirez hasn’t played in a World Series during his career. Yet he has indicated he would exercise his no-trade rights rather than approve a deal even to a contender.

Over the years the Cubs have had too many players who would rather lose in Wrigley than win elsewhere.

Of course, their stated goal is the ultimate: Help the Cubs win their first championship since 1908.

However, at some point reality has to strike deep that the odds aren’t very promising of that happening before their grandchildren become grandparents.

Hanging with the Cubs means there’s much more chance that a player will be the next in a line of players, including Ernie Banks and Ryne Sandberg, to never reach a World Series.

Banks should have demanded a trade for a better chance at a championship. Sandberg should have become a free agent and signed with a contender.

However, they got in and couldn’t get out of here.

Any team should pursue players who not only want to win a World Series but are obsessed by the thought.

Instead Garza was quoted as saying of the Cubs, “What’s there to complain about?”

Well, how about that they are 18 games below .500 at the break and 12 games out of first place in a weak division?

“What’s not to smile about?” Garza’s published quotes added. “I’m 27 years old, the father of three and I get paid to play baseball.”

No, sorry, you’re paid to win baseball games, which too often is lost upon the Cubs.