The Nationals released Nicolas on Thursday.
Nicolas was removed from the 40-man roster last week, and he's now out of the organization altogether. The 27-year-old holds a career 4.96 ERA, 1.58 WHIP and 103:66 K:BB over 105.1 innings covering parts of four big-league campaigns. Nicolas throws hard and can miss bats when he's on, so he shouldn't have trouble landing a new gig.