Prosecutors: Florida men smuggled Cuban players to get rich

MIAMI -- Federal prosecutors told jurors Tuesday that a Florida sports agent and a baseball trainer orchestrated an illegal Cuban ballplayer smuggling ring to get rich by making it easier for the players to escape the communist island and sign lucrative Major League Baseball contracts.

Defense lawyers countered that agent Bartolo Hernandez and trainer Julio Estrada stayed within the law while helping players navigate the free-agent complexities Cuban defectors must overcome to play big-league U.S. baseball.

Now that closing arguments are done, jurors are expected to begin deliberations Wednesday morning after six weeks of testimony. Hernandez and Estrada are charged with conspiracy and alien…