The A's might have bullpen issues, and they might have a lot of them. But no team in the history of baseball has been a .118 team in one-run games over a full season. I should research that and cite something ...
The answer is no. Your objective as a writer or speaker of a quotation is to make an impact. Evaluate both choices -- paraphrase and direct quote. Usually, paraphrasing makes more sense if: 1  the quotation is long and wordy. 2  the words in the quotation are not powerful. 3  the source of the quotation is unknown or dubious. 4  you are capable of making a good paraphrase without making it seem like plagiarism.
Rule 1. Use double quotation marks to set off a direct (word-for-word) quotation. Correct: I hope you will be here, he said. Incorrect: He said that he hoped I would be there.. (The quotation marks are incorrect because hoped I would be there does not state the speaker's exact words.) Rule 2a. Always capitalize the first word in a complete quotation, even midsentence.