The Miami Marlins are such a natural fit for Yoenis Cespedes and such a prohibitive favorite to sign the Cuban-defector outfielder that one struggles to imagine what could possibly prevent it happening.

I think it would have taken the following combination to dissuade Cespedes as the team showed off its new ballpark to him late Wednesday:

1. Marlins president David Samson shows up wearing an ENGLISH ONLY! button on his suit lapel as he greets Cespedes.

2. The club’s contract offer calls for Cespedes to earn the state minimum wage of $7.67 per hour, but with a myriad of perks including a free uniform, hot clubhouse showers, his own locker, and unlimited sunflower seeds.

3. The slugger is horrified to discover that the new ballpark’s dimensions are 875 feet to left and right fields and 1,040 feet to straightaway center.

Barring these things, how can Cespedes-to-Marlins NOT happen with a lovefest so reciprocal? The other handful of teams that want him might as well moan the word “fold” and throw their cards theatrically into the air.

Cespedes clearly wants the Marlins.

As a young man who fled Cuba last summer, he would prefer a new address that feels (and sounds) like home. And as Major League Baseball goes, this is his home team.

“There is no doubt that I would like to play in front of so many Cubans in Miami,” he had said Tuesday at the Miami airport, after arriving from the Dominican Republic. “I will not deny that I would like to play for the Marlins.”

The Marlins clearly want Cespedes just as much.

A club contingent led by owner Jeffrey Loria flew to the Dominican Republic in November for a private workout and returned impressed. All the teams pursuing him — including the Cubs, White Sox, Orioles, Tigers and Indians — like his power and five-tool baseball skills, but the Marlins also like something else.

“I think he would be an interesting fit in this market,” as baseball operations chief Larry Beinfest put it.

The Latin Americanization of the Marlins marches on. It is no coincidence the new stadium is in Little Havana, the team’s first name changed from Florida to Miami, the new manager is Venezuelan Ozzie Guillen, the major free agent addition is Dominican Jose Reyes and now the latest ardor is for a Cuban in Cespedes.

It makes smart business sense. There is no problem with this ballclub speaking with a Spanish accent (except perhaps to the diversity-challenged among us).

The priority in decision-making always needs to be the baseball, though, the winning — that is the one thing that will assure future attendance success, cutting across all races and ethnicities, beyond the new-ballpark bump of this first season.

The new park is about that, the baseball and the winning. Guillen, a proven manager, is about that. Reyes — the third-biggest free agent after Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder — is about that. So are other veteran additions such as pitchers Mark Buehrle, Carlos Zambrano and Heath Bell, all with track records. But with Cespedes, you wonder if this is a baseball decision or a marketing decision first.

Competition and hype will drive high the price for Cespedes, 26, possibly above the $10 million-per-season range.

He will be worth it if he becomes the club’s power-hitting and defensively adept center fielder of the future.

There should be some doubts, though. There must be.

The track record of Cuban position players in the big leagues is spotty. If Cespedes is such a future-star phenom, why are big spenders like the Yankees and Red Sox not interested? Why did the San Francisco Giants quickly drop out of the running saying he wasn’t worth the money?

Cespedes hit .333 with 33 homers and 99 RBI for the Cuban national team in the 2010-11 season. He also more recently hit .143 with 10 strikeouts in 35 at-bats against much closer to big-league pitching in the Dominican Winter League, reportedly looking awful at times against off-speed pitches.

The Marlins appear ready to offer can’t-miss money for a guy with no can’t-miss guarantee. Someone who would likely start out in the minors.

You know what, though? Benefit of doubt to the Marlins here, if only because the club’s continuing willingness to spend is so darned refreshing, so invigorating, after so many years of egregious underspending on player payrolls.

With spring training only two weeks away, Guillen, Reyes, Buehrle, Bell and Zambrano joining mainstays such as Hanley Ramirez, Mike Stanton, Josh Johnson, Gaby Sanchez and Logan Morrison give the Marlins a lot of talent. And also a lot of potential sparks and combustion, the combination of which (all thrown into a brand new stadium) should make for an exciting, fascinating season.

Cespedes would make America’s most interesting ballclub all the more so.

He would be a big gamble and costly, but it feels good to finally have a club willing to take some of those. Years of shoestring budgets meant the Marlins couldn’t afford to gamble because they couldn’t afford to lose, and the result was the sad intersection of Cautious and Cheap. Now they are willing to gamble, and are. Good for them.

It takes fiscal daring to get into high-risk/high-reward dice rolls such as the Reds did in 2010 with Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman, or what the Rangers did more recently with Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish, or what the Marlins are doing now with Cespedes.

For so long this owner/management played weak spectator, cowering behind the excuse shield of a bad stadium deal while other teams spent, shopped and dreamed big.

At last the Marlins are in that big boys’ game. All in, by the looks of it.