Let’s ponder the worst-case scenario. Club officials are obligated to do that. Players, not so much.Aaron Judge said he was “not happy” Tuesday night when the New York Yankees, in his first game back from a fractured right rib, pulled him after six innings. But the worst-case scenario for the Yankees is Judge re-aggravating the injury or suffering a new one because, after missing more than three months, he tried to do too much, too soon.Can’t happen. And the Yankees are right to try to prevent it from happening, even though Judge is pushing back out of his sheer and natural desire to play.Judge should not have been surprised the team removed him early. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he told Judge it probably would happen. The disconnect was notable. Teams and their star players usually are more aligned. But the tension, if it can even be called that, had been building.The need for Judge to get back into playing condition — get his legs under him, to use the common terminology — is why some Yankees officials surely preferred him to go on a rehabilitation assignment.It’s also why, after Judge balked at playing in minor-league games, not wanting to “waste” at-bats, the club wants him to build up in a steady progression at the major-league level.Judge is balking at that, too. He wants to play. He also wants things his way, as star players often do. But if the worst-case scenario should occur, who would take the heat?Not Judge, who, as the Yankees’ captain, likely would take accountability in his usual fashion and draw praise for trying to help his team. No, it’s the Yankees’ brass — general manager Brian Cashman, Boone and company — who would be ripped for failing to protect Judge from himself. And perhaps for building a team so reliant on one player, though it’s hard not to be overly reliant on one of the best right-handed hitters in major-league history.Those are not the Yankees’ motivations for wanting to proceed with caution. Or at least, they shouldn’t be. The only concern should be getting Judge back to peak form by the postseason. Even the American League East race is secondary, particularly with the Yankees’ odds of overtaking the Tampa Bay Rays, per FanGraphs, at only 15.2 percent.So, the question is: What is the best approach for the Yankees to take with Judge? And the answer, as is almost always the case in return-to-play scenarios, is no one knows for sure.Judge missed more than three months with a fractured rib. He returned to the Yankees on Tuesday but said he was “not happy” about playing only six innings. (Vincent Carchietta / Imagn Images)The risk of Judge straining a leg or side muscle seemingly would be greater if he pushes too hard. But even when players and teams exercise what seems like sufficient caution, freak things happen.Last season, the Houston Astros’ Yordan Alvarez missed 100 games with a broken bone in his right hand, one more than Judge did with his fractured rib. After a four-game rehab assignment, Alvarez had a 1.031 OPS in his first 19 games back. And then, while running the bases, he suffered a sprained left ankle that sidelined him for the rest of the season.You can’t put players in bubble wrap. Many star players resist rehab assignments; the New York Mets’ Juan Soto was another recent example. And Boone, speaking to reporters before Tuesday’s game, seemed to indicate Judge was practically a full go.“He’s done everything and maybe even more to be ready to now play,” Boone said. “Obviously, he’s not doing a rehab assignment, where he would build up even more. But no, he’s done everything, I feel like, and then some, to be ready to go play.”So, why not just play him in full games right away?Judge can point to 2023, when he missed nearly two months with a toe injury and then produced a .965 OPS in his final 57 games without a rehab assignment. The difference then was that he served as the designated hitter for five of his first six games back and about half of them overall. This time, the Yankees face something of a DH glut, and intend to play him mostly in right field.Many players will tell you that no amount of rehab and/or training can replicate the experience of putting on spikes and playing in games. Hitting off a Trajekt machine, taking live batting practice, running sprints in the outfield — all of that helps players prepare. But none of it is the same as playing nine innings in the field.Judge might think he’s Superman. Heck, he has good reason to think he’s Superman. And on Tuesday, with leading AL Cy Young Award candidate Cam Schlittler pitching for the Yankees, he said he told Boone, “I’m probably not going to get a lot of action anyway. So, what’s the difference between me standing out there for nine innings or standing out there for six?”Not an unreasonable question. And surely, as Judge tries to regain his offensive rhythm, he wants as many at-bats as possible.Still, Judge already exerted control by avoiding a rehab assignment; a club, according to the collective bargaining agreement, can not impose one on a player without his consent. And now, he is seeking to push the boundaries further.It’s what you would expect from a great player, especially one who for three months has been itching to perform. By all accounts, Judge’s rib is fine. He is asymptomatic. And for all anyone knows, he might be fully capable of taking on a greater load than the Yankees are willing to concede.At this stage of the season, though, there’s also no harm in taking a measured approach. Sure, the Yankees trail the Rays by only four games, with the teams meeting in a four-game series at Yankee Stadium in the final week of the regular season. But this isn’t about securing the division title, a potential first-round bye and the top seed in the AL. Nor is it about staving off the Boston Red Sox for the top wild-card spot and gaining home-field advantage in the first series — the Yankees’ three-game lead, because they hold the tiebreaker, is effectively four.This is about keeping Judge healthy, about getting him back to peak form. The Yankees aren’t out of line in wanting to be careful. They can’t afford to lose Judge again.