OF Frank Diaz and RHP Tim McNab were also signed to minor league deals.

Kielty, 32, played just 49 games last season and split the majority of that time between Rochester and Pawtucket. He hit .233 with five home runs and 32RBI in 163 at-bats in the minors. Kielty has played 599 major league games with Minnesota, Toronto, Oakland and Boston. His last major league at-bat was with the Red Sox: a pinch-hit home run in Game 4 of the 2007 World Series.

Armas Jr., 5-7 with a 2.54ERA in 17 starts with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate last season, the New Orleans Zephyrs. He also appeared in three games for the Mets and went 1-0 with a 7.56ERA. Armas Jr. is 53-65 with a 4.65ERA in 185 career MLB games with Montreal, Washington, Pittsburgh and New York.

DeSalvo, 28, was the New York Yankees’ Triple-A Pitcher of the Year in 2007 after going 9-5 with a 2.70ERA with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Last season, he pitched two games out of the bullpen for Atlanta while going 2-11 with a 4.87ERA in 34 games with Richmond.

de lo Santos, 36, was 4-5 with a 5.63ERA in 23 games and eight starts last season for Triple-A Colorado Springs of the Pacific Coast League. He also made two appearances with the Colorado Rockies in 2008. The southpaw is a career 9-13 with a 4.57ERA in 235 big league games with Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Toronto, Florida and the Rockies.

Diaz, 25, reached the Triple-A level for the first time in 2008. In 38 games with Columbus, he hit .291 with six doubles, 11RBI and four stolen bases. He was originally signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Montreal Expos in 2000.

McNab, 28, was 3-3 with a 5.55ERA in 50 games with New Orleans last season. He is a career 32-31 with a 4.28ERA in 256 career minor league games.

The New York Mets will open their 2009 Spring Training at Port St. Lucie, FL when pitchers and catchers report on Friday, February 13. Position players are scheduled to arrive at Tradition Field on Tuesday, February 17. The Bisons are scheduled to break camp on Friday, April 3.

The Bisons will play all their home games in the Mets complex at Port St. Lucie FL. All games, home and road, will be played at 1:00 p.m.

The schedule will start on Wednesday, March 18 in Port St. Lucie, FL against the New Orleans Zephyrs (Florida). The Herd will play five games versus the Zephyrs and six against the Memphis Redbirds (St. Louis).

The Marlins and Cardinals each have their spring training facility in Jupiter, FL.

The Bisons will hold an induction ceremony at Coca-Cola Field during the 2009 season (date TBD).

With the four new inductees, the Bisons now have 25 former players and managers in the International League Hall of Fame. The IL inducted six former Bisons last season as part of a historic class of 27 as the league revived its dormant Hall of Fame.

One of the Bisons early greats, Kisinger won 117 games with the team in seven seasons in Buffalo from 1904-1910. During that time, he also recorded an International League record 31 shutouts. In 1904, he went 24-11 to lead the Bisons to their first ever pennant. He also won 20+ games in 1905 and 1906 and threw a no-hitter on August 21, 1909 against Rochester. In 1987, Kisinger was elected to the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame.

In his nine-year International League career, Kisinger won 150 games in 315 appearances.

Demeter played one season in Buffalo but it was an All-Star campaign with the Bisons. In 1955, the third baseman hit .285 (147-516) and led the team with 17 home runs and 79RBI. He added 28 doubles and nine triples to his solid year in Buffalo. Demeter went on to play 11 seasons in the International League with Toronto, Rochester and Syracuse and hit 159 home runs in 1,395 games.

Demeter’s managerial career brought him back to Buffalo. He served as the Bisons manager in 1979 and 1980, their first two seasons after an eight-year absence from professional baseball. Demeter was 139-137 with the Double-A Bisons of the Eastern League.

Barrett spent one season in Buffalo, pitching in 28 games with a 5-1 record and a 3.60ERA with the Bisons in 1951. Prior to that, the righty went 16-3 in 1938 with Syracuse before retuning four years later to go 20-12 for the IL Champion Chiefs. As a National League pitcher, Barrett was 69-69 for Cincinnati, Boston and St. Louis from 1937-1949.

Knight played just six games with the Bisons during the 1899 season, the final six games of his career. From 1866-1899, Knight played for 10 teams and averaged .345 with 1,865 hits in 1,265 games in the International League.