Mesoscale features and their related submesoscale structures can transport heat, freshwater, and biogeochemical tracers (e.g., phytoplankton, oxygen, and carbon) from the surface to the interior. These structures may grow, decay, and redistribute energy through several dynamical processes. The study examines the evolution of small (~20 km) mesoscale eddies and the associated energetic pathways using a four-dimensional, three-month-long autonomous glider survey in the Balearic Sea, Western Mediterranean. The combined glider fleet covered nearly 15,978 km, accumulated 704 glider days, and completed more than 4,837 dives to depths of 700 m, measuring physical and biogeochemical properties. We investigate how energy is redistributed during mesoscale eddy merging and eddy splitting and how these processes relate to changes in flow divergence, strain, and vertical velocities. Scale-dependent diagnostics, support the presence of enhanced upscale kinetic energy transfer during merging, whereas splitting events exhibit strain-dominated dynamics and diminished cross-scale energy transfer. During eddy merging, vertical velocities reach values of up to 20 m day⁻¹. However, the spatial extent of significant vertical motion decreases, consistent with weakened frontogenesis along the eddy periphery and a redistribution of kinetic energy within the merging eddy. Examination of the baroclinic conversion, quantified through the eddy vertical buoyancy flux ⟨w′b′⟩, suggests higher vertical energy conversion during eddy merging. This is localized within areas where strain and frontogenetic activity occur. Although peak values of vertical energy conversion remain elevated, the fraction of the domain contributing to significant conversion decreases, indicating increasing spatial localization of energetic processes during merging. During eddy splitting, vertical velocities are substantially reduced (less than 10 m day⁻¹) following a frontolytic event in the northern eddy. Eddy splitting reduces positive and negative divergence, as well as eddy kinetic energy. Vertical velocities decrease from 20 m day⁻¹ to 10 m day⁻¹. The related baroclinic conversion declines during splitting, suggesting a decrease in vertical exchange under frontolytic conditions. Analysis of baroclinic energy transfers indicates vertical and horizontal pathways, with vertical conversion having a key role during eddy merging and a decreasing role during eddy splitting. Eddy merging is characterized by enhanced upscale transfer of kinetic energy across mesoscale and submesoscale ranges, whereas eddy splitting shows strain-dominated dynamics and reduced cross-scale energy transfer. The observations indicate that mesoscale eddy merging serves as an efficient mechanism for energy redistribution, while eddy splitting promotes energetic decay and reorganizes the vertical exchange.