"as they'd still have the original "trending" category,"
If this is true, and it remains the main landing page for all new users and people who view Steemit for the first time, then it is irrelevant if we add a new trending. Few will use it, much like Promoted.
Minnow trending would be jammed with these bot users who post garbage, or YT links that aren't their content, but spend hundreds of SBD on bids to get large payouts. Go look at the bid windows yourself on the bot tracker, you'll see what I mean.
"But minnows are self-selecting for talent, that's the reason most of them come here - they have talent, and looking for a way to leverage it."
Lol, no, most minnows are garbage posters, generally speaking. Go peruse the new category and you'll see the ratio of quality is atrocious. There is a clear trend where size of stake generally correlates to less garbage posting, for whatever that data point is worth.
Yes I realized in the intervening weeks how many less fortunate people around the world have been and are being attracted to steemit by the promise of hard easy cash - a matter of survival for many of them.